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CENTENNIiL CELEBMTION 



.'in: SKTTI.E3IKNT OV TUK 



TOWN OF LANCASTER, N, H 



lULY U. 18(>4 



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COXCOKD, X. II : 

r \\ 1 >s' T \\ i) ;! Y M <F A \\ L .V N D .v .T.E N K S , 
]S()4. 



THE 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



SETTLEMENT OF THE 



TOWN OF LANCASTER, N. H., 



JULY 14, 1864. 



REPORTED BY J. M. W. YERK1>"T0K'. 



LANCASTER : 

PUBLISHED BY E. SAVAGE, BOOKSELLER, 

MAIJf ST., TfEAK THE LOWER BRIDGE. 



.M f ARLA.ND & JENKS, nilNTEKS, 
CONCORD, N. H. 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 



In accordance with a notice extensively circulated by a 
committee of the citizens of Lancaster, N. H., the one 
hundreth anniversary of the settlement of that town was 
celebrated on Thursday, the 14th of July, 1864. Invitations 
had been extended to very many of the former residents of 
the town, now scattered throughout the broad Union, to 
re-visit their early home, and take part in the exercises of 
the occasion. To these invitations a lai'ge number responded 
in person or by letter. Among the prominent gentlemen 
from abroad were Hon. Edwabd D. Holton, of Milwaukee, 
Wis. ; John B. Brown, Esq., of Portland, Me. -, Nathaniel 
White, Esq., of Concord, N. H., and I. B. Gorham, Esq., of 
St. Johnsbury, Vt. 

A national salute, fired from two old field pieces, taken 
from the British by Stark, at Bennington, the display of flags 
and the ringing of bells, ushered in the day. At an early 
hour, the stream of travel from the neighboring towns, on 
both sides of the river, commenced, and soon the usually 
quiet town presented an animated and holiday aspect. In 
the village itself, all labor was suspended, and the people 
gave themselves uj) to the unrestrained enjoyment of the day, 
and the exercise of a general and cordial hospitality. 

The day was one of enchanting loveliness. Nature, with 
radiant smiles, welcomed her truant children, returning from 
crowded city or town to her motherly embrace, and fanned 
them with the breath of gales that "winnowed fragrance 
round the smiling land." VYell might these wanderers from 



the lovely valley where their youth was cradled repeat the 
lines of Gray, on revisiting Eton : 

Ah, happy hills ! ah, pleasing shade ! 

Ah, fields beloved in vain ! 
"Where oft my careless childhood strayed 

A stranger yet to pain ; 
I feel the gales that round ye blow 
A momentary bliss bestow ; 

As waving fresh their gladsome wing, 
My weary soul they seem to soothe, 
And redolent of joy and youth, 

To breathe a second spring. 

A procession was formed at 9J o'clock, on the south side 
of Elm street, the right resting upon Main, which, soon after 
ten o'clock, moved in the following oi'der : 

Aid. Marshal-in-Chief. . Aid. 

Lancaster Cornet Band, Lt. Albert F. Whipple, leader. 

North Star Cotnmandery of Knights Templar, 

Sir Kt. J. I. Williams, commander. 

Aid. North Star Lodge No. 8, A. F. & A. M., Aid. 

B. F. Hunking, W. Master. 

Engine Company, No. 1. 

State . and Town officials. 

Aid. Committee of Arrangements. Aid. 

Officers of the Day and Committees. 

President of the Day. 

Distinguished Yisitors in cai'riages. 

County officials and Government officers. 

Soldiers bearing the National Flag. 

Yenei'able settlers and residents of the Town, in carriages. 

The Eeverend Clergy. 

Lancaster Glee Club. 

Aid. The Sabbath Schools Aid. 

connected with the various churches. 
Aid. Citizens of Lancaster. Aid. 

Aid. Citizens of other towns. Aid. 

Appropriate banners and flags were displayed by the sev- 
eral societies, and the glorious stars and stripes, conspicuously 



exhibited at several points, thrilled the heart with their 
patriotic associations. 

The route of the procession was up Main street to the Lan- 
caster House, where the President of the day, with other dis- 
tinguished guests, was received; thence up Main to North, and 
down Main to the space adjoining the Congregational Church, 
where the literary exercises were to take place ; a window 
having been removed from the north side of the church, and 
a temporary platform erected, that all, both inside and out, 
might have an opportun,ity to see and hear. 

The church was soon crowded to its utmost capacity, and 
the space adjoining well filled by a large comj^any, waiting 
the commencement of the exercises. The number present 
was variously estimated at from two to three thousand. In- 
side the church, several of the most venerable citizens 
occupied the front seats. Among them were Emmons Stock- 
well, Eeuben G. Freeman, Francis Wilson, Douglass 
Spaulding, Ephraim Stockwell, Spencer Clark, William 
HoLKiNS, Hon. Benjamin Hunking, and Beniah Colby. 

At 11 o'clock, the exercises were commenced with music 
by the Cornet Band, at the conclusion of which, Col. Kent, 
Chief Marshal, said : 

My friends, I regret to commence the exercises of the 
day by making excuses or apologies ; but it is necessary I 
should do so, in order to a correct understanding of the 
remaining part of the programme. It was thoroughly un- 
derstood that Col. Farrar, of Oregon, was to deliver the 
oration, and he gave me his personal pledge, on the 5th inst., 
that he would be here without faiL He was in Washington a 
few days ago, and the recent rebel incui-sion iijto Maryland, 
sundering the connection between that city and the rest of 
the countr}*, has, I suppose, rendered it impossible for him to 
be here. Several gentlemen, who were invited, and also ex- 
pected to be present, His Excellency, Governor Andrew, of 
Massachusetts, and His Excellenc}'^, Governor Gilmore, of 
this State, among others, have found it impossible for them 
to be here, in consequence of the business that has been 
thrust upon them from the same cause — the rebel raid. I 



have received letters from several of these gentlemen, which 
will be read at the proper time. 

But I am happy to say, that on this anniversary of the 
settlement of our good old town, we are not to be without 
speakers who will entertain us. There are gentlemen present 
from abroad, who, having served their country honorably in 
posts of danger, have come back to join with those who 
remain at home in celebrating this glorious anniversary, and 
others, who, in civil life, have honored by their success the 
town of their nativity. From them, you will be glad to hear. 
I take pleasure in saying that the programme at the dinner 
will be fully carried out. 

And now, fellow-citizens, I am happy in introducing to you 
the President of the Day, Hon. David H. Mason, a Lancaster 
boy, whom you will rejoice to welcome here to-day, who will 
preside on the occasion, and will address you, in the absence 
of the orator. 

Eev. David Perry, of Brookfield, Vt., then invoked the 
Divine blessing upon all the proceedings of the day; after 
which, the following song, written for the occasion by Henry 
O. Kent, Esq., (music by L. O. Emerson, of Boston,) was 
sung by the Glee Club in a most acceptable manner : 

I. 

The mountains look down in their grandeur and pride, 

On the home of our childhood to-day ; 
On the wandering children who stole from their side 

To gather rare flowers by the way. 
They 're united again in the dear old town, 

'Mong the streams and the woods of yore, 
They have fought well the fight for gold and renown. 

And they turn to their childhood's door. 

II. 

There are those who have lingered around the old home, 

While their brethren were far in the strife ; 
That have tilled the old fields through the years that are flown. 

In the quiet and comfort of life ; 
These welcome ye back with hearts full of joy, 

A joy that commingles with pride. 
As they greet with warm fervor each wandering boy 

To the town where his forefathers died. 



III. 

We gather to-day among scenes so endeared, 

To crown with the fame of her sons, 
The time-silvered locks of the mother revered, 

While an hundred long winters have flown ; 
To wreathe a full chaplet of daughters' warm love * 

'Mid the silvery sheen of her hair, 
As enduringly pure as the azure above 

That smiles on a homage so fair. 
IV. 
AVelcome home, from the East and the West and the South, 

Welcome home, on this dear natal day ; 
The kiss of some loved one is warm on each mouth ; 

Ye have tarried a long time away. 
Welcome home, and forgetting the wearying care 

That compassed the pathway ye trod, 
Throw oft' the chill years and be young again here. 

In the smile of a love born of God. 
V. 
Welcome home, to each spot so remembered of yore, 

Welcome home, to each love that endures ; 
Gather strength for the journey that stretches before, 

Ere our sails leave these vanishing shores. 
Go forth fr.om among us with tokens of love. 

Glad burdens that weary not down ; 
So shall memory's banquet be spread as ye rove 

From the hon^ that's behind ye — our dear old town. 

The President. We will commence with the opening 
chapter of the history of Lancaster. I therefore call upon 
Ossian Eay, Esq., to read the Charter of the town. 

Mr. Eay. Mr. President : The original document is not to 
be had upon this occasion. Whether it was deposited, like 
some ancient charters that we read of in history, in the hol- 
low of a tree in this town, or elsewhere, and has thus been 
lost, I know not. But we have, at any rate, a fac simile of 
the original document, nearly as old as that. I propose to 
read from that copy. 



8 

CHAETEK. 
LANCASTER — PROVINCE OE NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 

[l. s.] George the Third, b}^ the Grace of God, of Great 
_ Brittain, France and Ireland, King Defender of the 

JFaith, and so forth. To all persons to whom these presents shall 
come, Greeting : Know y^ that we, of our special grace, cer- 
tain knowledge and mere motion for the due encouragement 
of settling a new plantation within our said Province, hy and 
with the advice of our trusty and well beloved Benning Went- 
worth, Esq., our Govonor and Commander in Chief of our said 
province of New-Hampshire, and of our council of the said 
province, Have, upon the conditions and reservations here in 
after made, given and granted, and by these presents, for us, 
our heirs and successoi's, do give and grant in equal shares 
unto our loving subjects, inhabitants of our said Province of 
New-Hampshire and our other Governments, and to their 
heirs and assigns forever, whose names are entered on this 
Grant, to be divided to and amongst them into seventy-six 
equal shares, all that tract or parcel of land situate, lying and 
being within our said Province of New-Hampshire, containing 
by admeasurement Twenty Three Thousand and forty acres, 

which tract is to contain miles square and no more; 

out of which an allowance is to be made for highwaj^s and un- 
improvable land, by rocks, ponds, mountains! and rivers one 
thousand and forty acres free, according to a plan and survey 
thereof made by our said Governor's order and returned into 
the Secretary's office, and hereunto annexed, butted and 
bounded as follows, viz : Beginning af a stake and stones 
standing on the bank of the Easterly side of Connecticut 
Eiver, which is the Southwesterly- corner bounds of Stoning- 
ton ; thence running south fifty -five degrees East seven miles 
by Stonington to the southeasterly corner thereof, then turn- 
ing of and running south sixty-nine degress west ten miles; 
then turning of again and running north twenty-six degrees 
west to the Connecticut River ; thence up the river as that 
tends to the stake and stones first above mentioned the bounds 
begun at, and that the same be and hereby is incorporated into 
a township b}^ the name of Lancaster. And the inhabitants 
that do or shall hereafter inhabit the said Township are here- 
by declared to be enfranchised with, and entitled to, all and 
every the privileges and immunites that other towns within 
our Province by law exercise and enjoy. And further, that 
the said Town, as soon as there shall be fifty families resident 
and settled thereon shall have the liberty of holding two Fairs, 

one of which shall be held on the and the other on 

the annually, which Fairs are not to continue longer 



than the respective following the said and that 

as soon as the said Town shall consist of M\y families a mar- 
ket may be opened and kept one or more days in each week 
as may be thought advantageous to the inhabitants. Also that 
the first meeting for the choice of Town Officers, agreeable to 
the laws of our said Province, shall be held on the^^rs^ Tues- 
day in August next, when said meeting shall be notified by 
David Page, who is hereby also appointed the Moderator of 
said first meeting, which he is to notify and govern agreeably 
to the laws and customs of our said Province, and that the 
annual meeting forever hereafter for the choice of such officers 
for the said Town, shall be on the second Tuesday of March 
annually. To Have and to Hold the said tract of land as 
above expressed, together with all the privileges and appur- 
tenances to them and their respective heirs and assigns for- 
ever, upon the following conditions, viz : 

1st. That every Grantee, his heirs or assigns, shall plant and 
cultivate five acres of land within the term of five j^ears, for 
every fifty acres contained in his or their share or proportion 
of land in said Township, and continue to improve and settle 
the same by continued cultivations, on penalty of the forfeiture 
of his grant or share in said Townshi]), and of its reverting to 
us, our heirs and successors, to be by us or them regranted to 
such of our subjects as shall eff'ectually settle and cultivate 
the same. 

12d. That all white and other pine trees within the said 
Township, fit for masting our Eoyal jSfavy, be carefully pre- 
served for that use, and none to be cut or felled without our 
special license for so doing first had and obtained, upon the 
penalty of the" forfeiture of the right of such Grantee, his 
heirs and assigns, to us, our heirs and successors, as well as 
being subject to the penalty of any act or acts of parliament, 
that noAv are or hereafter shall be enacted. 

od. That before any division of the land be made to and 
among the Grantees, a tract of land as near the centre of said 
Township as the land will admit of, shall be reserved and 
marked out for Town lots, one of which shall be allotted to 
each Grantee of the contents of one acre. 

4th. Yielding and paying therefore to us, our heii's and suc- 
cessors, for the space of ten years, to be computed from the 
date hereof, the rent of one ear of Indian Corn only, on the 
25th day of December annually, if lawfully demanded ; the first 
payment to be made on the 'l^th day of December, 1763. 

5th. Every propi'ietor, settler or inhabitant, shall yield or 
pay unto us, our heirs and successors, yearly ai!d every year 
forever, from and after the expiration of ten j^ears fi-om the 
above said twenty -fifth day of December namely, on the 'Ibth day 



10 



of Decemher which will be in the year of our Lord, 1773, one 
shilling proclamation money for every one hundred acres he 
so owns, settles or possesses, and so in proportion for a greater 
or lesser tract of the said land ; which money shall be paid by 
the respective persons above said, their heirs and assigns, in 
our Council Chamber in Portsmouth, or to such Officer or 
Officers as shall be appointed to receive the same; and this to 
be in lieu of all other rents and services whatsoever. 

In Testimony whereof, we have caused the seal of our said 
Province to be hereunto affixed. Witness, Benning Went- 
toorth, Esquire, our Governor and Commander-in-Chief of 
our said Province, i\\Q fifth day of July, in the year of our 
Lord Christ, One Thousand Seven Hundred a,nd Sixty-Three, 
and in the third year of our reign. 

B. "Went WORTH. 

By his Excellency's Command, 

with advice of the Council. , 

T. Atkinson, Jun., Secretary. 

Province of JSTew-Hampshire, July 6th, 1763. Eecorded 
according to the original charter under the province seal. 

T. Atkinson, Jun., Secretary. 

THE names of the GRANTEES OF LANCASTER. 



David Page, 
David Page, Junior, 
Abraham Byam, 
Keuben Stone, 
John Grout, 
John Grout, Junior, 
Jonathan Grout, 
Solomon Wilson, 
Joseph Stowell, 
Joseph Page, 
"William Page, 
Nathaniel Pago, 
John Warden, 
Silas Bennett, 
Thomas Shattuck, 
Benjamin Man, 
Daniel Miles, 
Thomas Kogers, 
Ephraim Shattuck, 
Silas Shattuck, 
John Duman, 
Nathaniel Smith, 
Charles Howe, 
Israel Hale, ^ 
Israel Hale, Junior, 
Daniel Hale, 
William Daggett, 
Isaa? Ball, 



Solomon Fay, 
Jotham Death, 
John Sanders, 
Elisha Crossby, 
Luke Lincoln, 
David Lawson, 
Silas Kice, 
Thomas Carter, 
Ephraim Steans, 
James Bead, 
Thomas Whitney, 
Thomas Kice, 
Daniel Searles, 
Isaac Wood, 
Nathaniel Eichardson, 
Ebenezer Blunt, 
John Harriman, 
Ephraim Noys, 
Benjamin Sawyer, 
John Sawyer, 
John West, 
Samuel Marble, 
Joseph Marble, 
Jonathan Houghton, 
John Eogers, 
Abner Holden, 
Stanton Prentice, 
Stephen Rines, 



11 

Jolin Phelps, Hon. Joseph Newmarsh, Esq., 

"William Read, Nathaniel Barrell, Esq., 

Benjamin Baxter, Daniel Warner, Esq., 

Matthew Thornton, Esq., James Nevin, Esq., 

Andrew Wiggins, Esq., Rev. Mr. Joshua Wingate Weeks, 

Meshech Weare, Esq., Benjamin Stevens. 

Maj. John Talford, 

His Excellency, Benning Wentworth, Esquire, a tract of 
land to contain five hundred acres as marked, B. W. in the 
plan, which is to be accounted twaof the within shares. One 
whole share for the incorporated (Society for the propagation 
of the Gosi:)el in Foreign parts. One Share for a Glebe for 
the Church of England, as by law established. One share for 
the first settled Minister of the Gospel, and one share for the 
benefit of a school in said Town. 

Province of New-Hampshire, July 6th, 1763. Kecorded 
from the back of the original Charter of Lancaster, made 
under the Province Seal. 

T. Atkinson, Jun., Secretary. 

Plan of Town, 

23040 Acres. 

Province of New-Hampshire, July 6th, 1763. Eecorded 
from the back of the original Charter of Lancaster, under 
the Province Seal. 

T. Atkinson, Jun., Secretary. 

This certifies that the within and the above is a true copy 
of the record. Attest, 

J. Pearson, Secretary. 

The President. This is a day of jubilee, and I propose to 
call for three cheers for the quaint old charter. My friend, 
the Chaplain, says it is all right, even in a meeting-house. 
Col. Kent will lead off in the cheers. 

The audience responded to this call with three hearty 
cheers, which Avas followed by another song, entitled " Our 
Lancaster," written by Mrs. Mary B. C.Slade. (This song, 
also, was set to music by Mr. Emerson.) 

The sturdy tree of Pilgrim stock 

Its root had struck 'neath Plymouth Rock ; 

And sweet savannahs smiled to see 

The coming of the Chivalry ! 

"When, turning from the vales of ease. 



12 

On lowlands washed by sunnj^ seas, 
"With heart of hope, a noble band, 
Came toiling up our mountain land. 

Through dark pine forests, JSTorth and "West, 
The warwhoop rushed across their rest, 
"While creeping up the eastern sky, 
The British thunder-cloud drew nigh. 
But Coos smiled, the meadows rang, 
Sinoogannock SMa|t echoes sang; 
And circling hill^nd placid wave 
Their welcome and protection gave. 



Here, loyal sons, your patriot sires 

Enkindled Freedom's altar-fires ; 

The Fathers' watchword ours shall be, — 

The Union, God, and Liberty ! 

Here grew they free and strong and brave. 

Till fierce Oppression crossed the wave ; 

Ask storied battle-fields how, then. 

For Freedom stood the mountain men ! 

The Aloe drinks the sun and rain, 
Nor blooms her answer back again. 
Till, lo ! a flowery crown she wears. 
The blossom of an hundred years. 
The mountain winds, the valley's stream, 
The winter's snow, the summer's gleam, 
A hundred years have brought to her 
To-day's bright bloom, our Lancaster ! 

Where, long ago, the Indian found 
A resting place and hunting ground. 
To beauty's pilgrims rest we lend, 
Ere they to snow-capped heights ascend. . 
God of the Mountains! bless our home, 
While through its paths to thee we come : 
Till o'er its purpled heights we see 
The White Hills of Eternity ! 



13 



ADDRESS OF HON. DAYID H. MASON. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : A hundred years ago, the last act in 
the drama of the French and Indian war had just closed. 
France and Spain had ceded all claimed rights to the posses- 
sion of territory east of the Mississij^pi river, and England 
held undistui-bed sway in the vast country, stretching from 
the Gulf to the Arctic sea, and from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific ocean. 

The last great struggle of the native Indians to recover 
their hunting grounds was over. The brave Pontiac, with his 
five and twenty Indian tribes, scattered all along from the 
Shenandoah to the great lakes, and down the Ohio to the very 
banks of the Mississippi, over the mountains and through the 
prairies, had buried the tomahawk and the scalping-knife, 
and smoked the pipe of peace. 

At thetfirst dawn of security the indomitable sons of the 
Pilgrims plunged into the wilderness with their axes and 
their rifles, to plant new homes for themselves and their 
posterity. 

On the 19th of April, A. D. 1764, Captain David Page, his 
son David Page, Jr., about 18 years of age, and Emmons 
Stockwell, with perhaps one or two others, having pushed 
up the Connecticut valley from Petersham, Massachusetts, 
through the town of Haverhill, reached the spot where we 
now arc. They were charmed by the natural loveliness of this 
valley, and their fondest desires were gratified. Standing on 
yonder elevation, with those majestic mountains behind them, 
the unrivaled Pilot range on their right hand and the green 
hills on their left, with those bald sentinels guarding the 2)a8- 
sage before them, they gazed down into this paradise of 
meadows, with the meandering river, like a silver cord, run- 
ning through them, all clothed in the fresh verdure of the 
opening Spring. What a heaven was here spread out before 
them ! With hearts full of gratitude, they thanked the God 
of nature that his mysterious providence had guided them 
here. 

They came on the 19th of April, a day since made sacred 



14 

in the nation's history ; the day on which was shed the first 
blood of the Ee volution on Lexington Green ; the day on 
which flowed in the streets of Baltimore the first northern 
blood in the war of the Eebellion ; the same day on which 
was founded the first Normal school in the new world, that 
crowning glory of our system of jDopular education. It was 
fortunate for our ancestors that they came to this valley, and 
that was a fortunate birth-day for our beautiful town. 

The war for existence had passed; the war for principle 
was approaching. The North American Colonies had cost 
the mother country, at the close of the French war, nearly 
seven hundred millions of dollars. Her treasury was ex- 
hausted by the long and fierce struggle with the continental 
powers. In looking about for some way to restore the equili- 
brium between her magnificence and her means, she fell upon 
the plan to tax these colonies. The right to do this was indig- 
nantly denied. Her peerless statesman, the immortal Pitt, to 
whose genius and wisdom she owed the chief glofies of the 
eighteenth century — the true friend of the colonies — was no 
longer in ofiice, and the young king had called to his council 
men of moderate ability. The war of the Kevolution fol- 
lowed. 

At the period of its commencement, our town contained but 
eight fomilies. None of its inhabitants joined the army; they 
were too few in numbers, too far from the strife, and were out 
of sight in the wilderness. Their families were exposed to 
the depredations of the savages, and in common with all the 
new settlements along our northern frontier, they suffered 
greatly from dangers and privations, through that long and 
bloody war. Their stern duties at home were paramount to 
all public considerations. They had, however, in many ways, 
their courage and their patriotism. The dauntless Stockwell 
was in one of the expeditions which went up for the invasion 
of Canada, during the French "War. He was an orphan boy in 
his native town, bound out to service dui-ing his minority. 
In order to encourage enlistments and fill the ranks of our 
army, a regulation was made that indentured apprentices 
should be entitled to their freedom, if they would enlist in the 
public service. Stockwell, though a mere boy, possessed the 



15 

spirit of a man, and took advantage of the provision which 
gave him his liberty. On his return from this unfortunate 
expedition, with a few stragglers he came down the Connecti- 
cut river, and for the first time beheld the magnificent valley. 
Its atti'actions led him, a few years later, with those hardy 
pioneers, to choose it for his futui'e home. 

Some of the Kevolutionary heroes settled in Lancaster 
after the close of the war. I remember very well Major Moses 
White, of Eutland, Mass. He was a true gentleman, of the 
old Revolutionary school. He had filled many high positions 
in the continental army with ability and honor, and was re- 
warded by a grant from the government, through General 
Hazen, of the Catbow tract of land in Lancaster, where he 
fixed his residence and passed the remainder of his life. He 
attained very great consideration in his adopted State, and 
was very widely and favorably known. Wherever his Muty 
called him, he never lost his dignity or forgot the courtesies 
of life. 

When our independence was acknowledged and peace was 
restored, our settlement began to inci'ease in numbers. But 
the country no where prospered as was confidently expected. 
We had no national credit and no commerce to bring us trade. 
Though we were independent upon the land, England was still 
mistress upon the sea, and it soon became apparent if we would 
prosper as a nation, our flag must be respected and our com- 
merce built up. The impressment of a few seamen was not of 
vast public importance, but the great principle that the flag 
of a nation shall protect its citizens on the land and sea, was 
of inestimable value; and for this, the second w^ar with Eng- 
land was waged. Its triumph was complete; and we came 
out from that controversy with our honor vindicated and our 
rights established. 

In this second national war, our citizens bore an important 
part. You all remember Major John AV. Weeks. On the 5th 
day of July, A. D. 1S14, by a brave and timely movement of his 
command, he turned the tide of victory at Chipj)ewa. He 
was the Captain of the 1st Company, 11th Eegiment of In- 
fantry, and held the extreme right of our line. Having 
discovered the enemy advancing upon the centre with a heavy 



16 

column, he threw his command, by a quick movement, upon 
theii' flank, and delivered a destructive fire, which broke their 
ranks and hurled them back in a disastrous retreat, leaving 
their dead and wounded upon the field. He was promoted 
for his gallantry to the rank of Major. He came to this town 
in 1787, when only six years of age. He learned the trade of 
a house-joiner, and received his education from the scanty 
means the settlement afi'orded. He arose to various high posi- 
tions in public life, and represented his district in Congress 
with credit, at a time in our history when to be in Congress was 
an honor, and men of the highest ability and character were 
chosen to the national councils. He was a man of strong 
and comprehensive mind, a great reader and close reasoner, 
whoso opinions and judgment upon public questions were re- 
spected by our public men in the State and country. 

By his side at Chippewa were other citizens of Lancaster. 
There was Alpheus Hutchins, of whose bravery and bearing 
I have often heard his commander speak in terms of great 
commendation. There was Benjamin Stephenson, also, who, 
now in a happy old age, is reaping the rich rewards of an 
honorable life. 

Since the close of the second war, the prosperity of the 
town as well as of the country, for nearly fifty years, has been 
rapid and uninterrupted. The number of its voters and its 
material wealth have quadrupled, and to-day we find its hills 
and its valleys covered with handsome habitations and an 
industrious and a happy people. Would to God that the 
darkness which now hangs over our national prosperity would 
disappear, and reveal a future as propitious as the past ! 

We celebrate to-day the termination of the first century of 
municipal life. One centennial space is filled in the history of 
Lancaster. We have arrived at a point of time convenient 
for the measurement of our prosperity. Standing, therefore, 
as we do at the end of a century, we can look across the 
chasm that separates us from its beginning, and contrast the 
difference in the appearance and condition of our town. For- 
getting intervening events, we will look into the first years of 
its settlement, and place what we see beside the developments 
of this day, and mark the pi'Ogress and the change. 



17 

The charters for the towns of Lancaster and of Lunenburg, 
opposite to us, bear the same date, were granted on the same 
day, to the same person, by the same hand ; and these names 
were given to us in memory of the two towns similarly 
situated, n*ear the early homes of the first settlers in Massa- 
chusetts, and thus they sanctified their new homes by the 
fond recollection of those of their youth. The whole country 
was then a dense wilderness -, not a highway had been con- 
structed in or to our ancient town. The pioneer settlers found 
their way by marked ti*ees through the woods. They drove 
before them some twenty head of cattle, with bags of salt, 
provisions and farming tools fastened on their horns. They 
erected their first camp on the Holton meado\YS, and cleared, 
the first spring, twelve acres of land on the old Stockwell 
place, which they planted with corn. It grew so luxuriantly 
that b}^ the 25th of August it was twelve feet in height and 
fnll in the milk ; but on the fatal night which succeeded, it 
was utterly destroyed by the early frost. Although our town 
is 800 feet above the sea, in this high latitude, and in the midst 
of lofty mountains, such a calamity has happened but three 
times in sixty years. Our persevering settlers, not discour- 
aged by this disaster, cut their grass on the open lands on 
Beaver Brook, and thus kej)t their cattle through the winter, 
and were ready to renew the struggles of another year. 

It was many years before any traveled public way was con- 
structed. The nearest mill was perhaps at Plymouth, but the 
most accessible was at JS"o. 4, in the town of Charlestowu. 
From that place they brought their meal andgrain, traveling 
on foot, on horseback, or upon the river in their bark and log 
canoes, which they paddled with wonderful skill; and many a 
joyous feast did our ancestors have from the rare luxury of 
brown bread and Indian pudding, the rewards of their jjerilous 
and arduous journeys, I can almost see the young Mrs. 
Stockwell preparing for some gi'eat occasion, sitting before 
her blazing wood fire, watching her baking bannock, which 
she had spread upon a huge chip, and set up between the 
great andirons ; a style of cooking not quite obsolete in this 
ancient town twenty-five years ago. 

The canoes were their only carriages, and were made with 
2 



18 

their own hands from the trunks of the huge pines, or from 
bark peeled from their own trees. They were strong enough 
to be trusted on the deepest waters, and light enough to be 
carried upon their shoulders around the falls, or from pond to 
pond. The strong women rowed these same rude barks up 
and down these rivei's, from settlement to settlement, fi-om 
Stockwell's to Bucknam's, or Avhenever they went out to spend 
the afternoon, or on some errand of business. It will not be 
supposed that the settlers depended upon the food transported 
from Charlestown for their daily use. Their more common 
food was prepared by means contrived by themselves; our 
ancestors had no patent for their invention which stood for 
a mill. Have you never heard of the good old-fashioned 
" Thump ?" Emmons Stockwell kept a huge mortar, which 
held about two bushels; into this they put their corn, beans, 
and rye ; then they pounded it with a great wooden pestle, as 
none hut them could pound. With this they mixed potatoes, 
well baked and peeled, and the varieties of vegetables their 
tastes might select, and the whole was baked together into 
magnificent thump. Seasoned with good appetites, it was 
found a delicious dish by the early inhabitants of our glorious 
old town. 

The tables of these hardy pioneei-s had other dainties. The 
rivers and streams were full of fishes, and the forest of moose 
and game; and our ancestors of both sexes could use the 
rifle and the fishing-rod with astonishing skill. It is somewhat 
remarkable that no deer or wolves were found here till long 
after the country was first settled, and it is said there were no 
eels in the river till the extermination of the beaver. But 
the moose were abundant, and were most mercilessly slaugh- 
tered by the wicked hunters, for the mere pleasure of killing. 
One Nathan Caswell killed ninety-nine in a single season, and 
left most of them to decay in their native woods. All honor to 
those humane settlers who turned him out of their houses as a 
rewai'd for this ignominious sport. I can never forgive those 
African and South American explorers for their wanton 
destruction of the noble beasts of the forests ; nor can I under- 
stand how they can wish to couple the history of such exploits 
with that of their noble discoveries. 



19 

The first mill erected in our town was turned by horse 
power, and was but little better than the old Stockwell mor- 
tar. Major Jonas Wilder built the first grist and saw-mill. 
Major Wilder brought his large and very respectable family to 
Lancaster in 1780. He had acquired a little fortune, for those 
days, in his native State, and some few years before had pur- 
chased here a tract of land one mile square, which included 
the present burying-ground.- In 1779, being chosen on a com- 
mittee to select a public burying-ground, he presented this 
mound to the town, to be used lor that purpose. He com- 
menced to build the cellar of the Holton house on the famous 
dark day. The town meeting was held at his house in 1779^ 
and he was chosen one of the selectmen, which was his earliest 
appearance on the oflScial records of Lancaster. He was a 
very valuable accession to this settlement, and has left a record 
of his life of which his descendants may w^ell be proud. 

Governor Page, so called by way of distinction merely, 
never was a resident of Lancaster, though named in the char- 
ter. He was only a st)rt of director of the settlement, making 
frequent journeys to visit the new colony, and by his counsel 
and his services rendering them great aid in the management 
of their afi'airs. His daughter, Euth Page, came here a 
spinster. On the night of the great frost, the 25th of August, 
1764, she slept in the woods in Orford, on her way to Lancas- 
ter, where she arrived the last of that month. She came to 
cook the food and do the work for the little colony, then more 
than forty miles from their nearest neighbors. She was the 
first white woman who came to our town. The next year she 
married Emmons Stockwell, and began house-keeping on the 
old Stockwell place. She was then eighteen years of age, and 
he was twenty-three. They lived together more than fifty- 
five years, and had fifteen children — seven sons and eight 
daughters — all of whom grew to maturity ; and in her old 
age, Mrs. Stockwell could call around her one hundred and 
ninety living descendants, three of whom yet survive — 
Ephraim, Emmons, and John Stockwell — whose combined ages 
are two hundred and forty-seven years. She died at the age 
of eighty-two ; her husband at seventy-eight. David Stock- 
well, their oldest child, was the first son of Lancaster. After a 



20 

long and useful life, he perished a few years since in the con- 
flagration of a portion of his dwelling. 

Edwards Bucknam, a young follower of Governor Page, 
soon after married another of his daughters, and settled at the 
mouth of Beaver Brook, whore for many years Mr. Benjamin 
Adams resided. A hunter, named Martin, caught vast num- 
bers of beaver, which abounded in the stream running through 
these meadows. The ingenious hunter gave his name to the 
meadows, and the ingenious animals to the stream they occu- 
pied. Bucknam was an accomplished surveyor, a man of 
unbounded hospitality, and of great usefulness to the colony. 
He could "let blood," " draw teeth," and periorm the mar- 
riage service, before the minister and doctor arrived. He did 
the business of the colony which requii-ed education. He laid 
out a large portion of the town, and many of the highways. 
At the beginning of the present century, there was a very 
good road leading up the river by his residence. In a few 
years, the settlers in that vicinity crept back from Martin's 
meadoAVs, and cleared off the hills behind them. They all 
lived in log huts, quite rudely constructed, with roofs made of 
bark. They had no school, and what to them was an infinitely 
greater hardship, no place of worship. Bucknam had six 
children, from whom have descended the Moores, the Howes, 
the Mclntires and Bucknams. His daughter Eunice, the first 
child of Lancaster, was born in 1767. 

David Page, the son of the Governor, so called, came here 
with the first settlers, married his cousin, of Haverhill, and had 
thirteen children. The Page family were highly respectable. 
Any alliance with them was honorable. It was not so diffi- 
cult for Stockwell and Bucknam, poor as they were, and lowly 
as their condition had been, to marry into high life. The 
young ladies, so elevated in society and beautiful in person, 
could have had no better overtures in this settlement, which 
the young gentlemen were emboldened to make and the young 
ladies to accept, because it was plainly the only change to 
which they seemed eligible. 

Stockwell possessed prodigious strength, and was caisable of 
great endurance. He could not read or write till he was taught 
by his accomplished wife. He had a firm and vigorous mind, 



21 

with a large share of common sense. In the days of the Eev- 
olution, he was the salvation of the colony. The hardships 
and dangers which surrounded them, the successive faikire of 
their crops, the capture of two or three of the settlers by the 
hostile Indians, and the stormy future prospects of the coun- 
try, shook the resolution of the settlers, and they met at 
Stockwell's house to discuss the abandonment of the town. 
The dauntless Stockwell declared, notwithstanding these 
things, " My family and I sha n't go." He had seen this valley 
in 1759, and was enamored with its loveliness. He had chosen 
it for his home, for the better or for the worse, and he knew 
no such thing as fiiilure. A few families rallied around him, 
and the settlement was saved. 

For many years there were no school-houses or schools. 
Mrs. Stockwell was a respectable scholar for those early days. 
She could read the psalter, and write and cypher very well, 
and in her own house taught the children of the settlers. She 
had wonderful general capacit}^, which supplied all the wants 
of this new colony. She was one of those remarkable persons 
who could do every thing that was necessary, and did every 
thing well. 

In 1791, the inhabitants of Lancaster voted to build a meet- 
ing-house ; and in town meeting chose, as a committee to locate 
and build it, Col. Edwards Bucknam, Col. Jonas Wilder, Capt. 
John Weeks, Lieut. Emmons Stockwell, Lieut. Joseph Brack- 
ett, Lieut. Dennis Stanley, and Capt. David Page. From the 
military titles of the committee, one would expect great dis- 
patch in this work ; but the structure was not completed for 
some years afterward. Taxes were assessed, payable in wheat 
rye and corn, labor, and lumber at certain fixed prices, to aid 
in its construction. In 1794, the first town meeting was held 
in this meeting-house. Previous to this date, they met at pri- 
vate houses to transact their business, and, as their numbers 
increased, selected larger houses. Col. Wildcr's splendid new 
mansion answered well till the meeting-house was ready. 

There was no regular preaching of the gospel, and no set- 
tled minister, till the eighteenth of September, 1794, when the 
Rev. Joseph Willard was settled here as pastor over a church 
" gathered" in July previous, consisting of twenty -four per- 



22 

sons. He presided over the religious affairs of the town for 
28 years. He had been in the continental army through the 
Eevolutionary war. He had a noble, commanding presence, 
a firm and measured step, which he preserved through his life 
time. You may all thank God that in his providence he sent 
to the town of Lancaster, such a man as Joseph Willard. He 
was a noble specimen of goodness and religious faith; was 
wise in counsel, learned in doctrine, and full of true charity 
and grace. All honor to the memory of the Eev. Joseph 
Willard. 

The church was an imposing structure for those days. It 
was erected upon the plain, on the very brow of the hill just 
south of the village. It had a tower at each end, with two 
porches for entrance, and a broad entrance on the side. It 
had a high gallery, a lofty pulpit, crowned with a high sound- 
ing-board, and, what is yet more characteristic, the seats were 
all so arranged in the square pews that they could be raised 
during prayer, w^hen the congi-egation stood up, and when the 
prayer was over would fall, one after another, with a horrible 
clatter. The old church has passed away, or rather been 
moved away, down the hill, dismantled of all its sacredness ; 
and made into a house of merchandise, except the pleasant 
room which i*ejoices in the name of the Town Hall. Even its 
foundations have been dug awa}^ ; not a vestige of the long 
flight of stairs now remains, and the places that knew it shall 
know it no more for ever. It will only live hereafter in the 
songs and chronicles of its exterminators. 

It was many years after the first settlement of the town 
before school houses were erected. I think the church pre- 
ceded the school house. It was some yedrs before they built 
even framed huts with a single room. The Stockwell and 
Bucknam houses, of very moderate proportions, on the old 
homesteads, you will remember. The two first splendid man- 
sions, as they then called them, were the famous Holton house 
and the old Wilson tavern, at the north end of the street. The 
latter, and the little red cottage on the opposite side of the 
street, below it, were the two first painted houses in Lancas- 
ter. I think a portion of the present Stockwell house and 
the llolton mansion are all that now remain of those very old 
structures. 



23 

The first town meeting which assembled in Lancaster was 
at the house of David Page, in 1769. Capt. Thomas Burnside 
was moderator ; Edwards Bucknam was chosen clerk, to 
which office ho was reelected for twenty-one years. They 
chose five selectmen. Unfortunately, the dwelling-house of 
3Ir. Bucknam was destroyed by fire in 1772, and with it per- 
ished the town records to that year. It is well known that 
Bucknam and Stockwell, Pago, Wilder and Weeks, composed 
the town government for nearly thirty years. The salary of 
the ''settled minister" was fixed at fifty pounds, one third of 
which was payable in cash and two thirds in produce. This 
was to increase as the inventory of the town increased, till it 
reached eighty pounds. 

The first lawyer in Lancaster was Eichard C. Everett. He 
was born in Providence, E. I., and was left an orphan early in 
life. He was at one time, during the Eevolutionaiy war, a 
servant of General Washington. He came to Lancaster in 
October, 17S7, and with two other hardy men cut out the road 
through the Notch for the purpose of transporting salt to 
upper Cods. He saved his earnings, and went through Dart- 
mouth College ; studied law in New-York and at Haverhill, 
in this State, and in 1793 began practice here. He rose to 
be district judge, and to a high position as a sound and honor- 
able man, and has left a spotless character in the memory of men. 

The first bridge erected was the old Stockwell bridge, across 
Israel's river, and the right to cross it first was put up at auc- 
tion, and bid off by Emmons Stockwell for five gallons of 
brandy, which cost him forty -two shillings a gallon. 

It was many years before any wheelwrights or wheels were 
found in Lancaster. The eai'ly settlers transported their mer- 
chandise upon two long poles, fastened together by a cross- 
piece. One end answered for shafts, to which the horse was 
attached, the other dragged upon the ground. It was similar 
in construction to the modern truck, without the wheels. 
There are many present who will remember the caravans of 
farmers who, every winter, carried their produce to the l*ort- 
land market in sleighs, where they purchased their annual 
supply of luxuries for domestic use ; and the}' will remember, 
too, their adventures and frolics, when, snow-bound on the 



24 

journey, they were compelled to wait, sometimes for days, till 
the fierce storms were over and the roads were passable. 

I have thus given you, to-day, only the outlines of a picture 
of Lancaster a hundred years ago. The same heavens are 
indeed over our heads, the same mountains wall in the valley, 
and the same river winds gracefully through the meadows, 
but all else, how changed ! It will not be thought invidious, 
on an occasion entirely our own, to say, in compliment to our- 
selves, that we may defj' the world to produce a lovelier village, 
or more beautiful farms, or a better and happier people, than 
are found in our noble town ; and with its natural scenery? 
embracing mountains and valleys, rivers and lakes, what 
spot is there on the earth of which we could feel prouder, 
and to which we could return with more delight ? and how can 
we wonder, as the summer approaches, that men leave the 
great cities, their business and their homes, to look on this 
scenery, and breathe the air of these mountains, and drink 
their inspirations ? 

It may not be unprofitable to enter the chasm between the 
bounds of our century, and learn something of the causes of 
our municipal growth and success. We owe much, my friends, 
to the moralitj' of our community. I am inclined to think 
that the theology of our early days was derived, in some 
measure, from the great Doctor Wheelright, who, banished 
from Massachusetts, settled in the vicinity of Exeter, and 
there led the religious development of our northern New-Eng- 
land. He was a little more tolerant and less bigoted than the 
full-blooded Puritan, but just as firm in his faith and unyield- 
ing in his opinions. They tried and hung the witches ; he only 
tried them. He had a mantle of charity, small as it was ; they 
had none at all, and gloried in their severity. I am inclined 
to believe that we have enjoyed a softer persecution between 
religious sects, a more tolerant theology, for which we are 
indebted to this gifted preacher. 

We owe much to the richness of our soil. The first settlers 
of this town regarded the productions of their meadows in 
their earliest cultivation as Avonderful. The grass grew so 
luxuriantly that rakes were in disuse, and the pitchfork was 
only needed to gather up the enormous crops. All kinds of 



25 

vegetation, when the spring was open, came forward with 
such rapidity, and with such a wealth of verdure, as they had 
never known before ; and if a market were lying at your 
doors, to stimulate the use of modern applications to bring 
forward vegetation early, your meadows would now find no 
rivals in their productiveness and value. 

We owe much to natural sceneiy; and in this connection 
I will only say, that the early settlers had a quick eye for the 
beautiful. I can not help thinking that one of our oldest 
inhabitants — Mr. Edward Spaulding, a descendant of the 
famous Mrs. Dustin — who was brought here, when a mere 
child, in his mother's arms, afterward fixed his residence on 
the spot where he lived and wherehe died, because of the 
exceedingly lovely landscape there spread out before him ; and 
there is not a single spot in our beautiful town which exceeds 
in beauty that where Spaulding lived. He was a noble and 
generous man. too good ever to be unkind. He has gone to his 
repose, and left an honored memory. 

I need not apologize for the distinction in saying to you 
now, that I believe we are largely indebted to the energy and 
principle, the faith and the works of Stockwell and Bucknam, 
for the prosperity and real value of our ancient town. They 
were good, and, in their way, great men. In our country, 
great and manly qualities are found in every class and condi- 
tion of men. Extreme wealth and extreme poverty furnish 
most of the profligacy and licentiousness of society. Its chief 
strength, health and vigor are derived from the gi'cat middle 
classes, which represent the labor and the sound judgment of 
the country. I have often heard it said that the race of great 
men is dying out in our land. This is not the fact ; but great 
ability seeks now the avenues of trade, commerce and agricul- 
ture, because they yield a better reward than statesmanship, 
or the pi-ofessions, and men of second-rate ability, with more 
cunning than wisdom, have been permitted to stand in the 
places of the giants of former years. You will recognize in 
the names of the descendants of these pioneers the large part 
they have borne in our material wealth and prosperity. How 
large a portion of our population can look back with distin- 
guished pleasure to these, their worthy ancestors ! Almost 



5^6 

all of their descendants have settled among us. They have 
falsified the truth of history, which declares that a stock of 
virtue in a family will run out in three generations ; for the 
great qualities of these first settlers have come down through 
their children to this day unimpaired. All honor to the names 
of those noble pioneers ; and to the memory of that brave 
and noble-hearted woman, who, at that tender age, came 
through the wilderness to aid the infant settlement, and nuj-sed 
it for more than three-score years into life and prosperity, and 
left such a long list of mourning descendants, we pay our grate- 
ful homage. 

We owe much of our prosperity to the little academy stand- 
ing there by the grave-yard, in its new dress to-day, which I 
have never seen before. It shows that it is prosperous, and 
that the old ancestral fires have not yet gone out. I tell 
you, seriously, that the education found within its walls for 
the past thirty years, for all the practical uses of life, has been 
not much inferior to that of our colleges; and in proof of what 
I saj^, I adduce the history and success of its numerous gradu- 
ates, both men and women, to show how well, in practice and 
in fact, they have stood beside those who received their educa- 
tion in our great schools and universities. Having received 
here the best instruction in elementarj^ studies, the student 
has gone out into the world as well prepared for the struggles 
of life, and to advance alone in the higher walks of attain- 
ment, as is commonly the case where they have pursued a 
regular course of coUcffe education. Our students have studied 
here in maturer life, with firmer health and better constitu- 
tions. They have taken in and appropriated what they have 
learned. It has formed their characters and given shape and 
vigor to their minds. I know it may be said they are defi- 
cient in higher literary culture, which gives a finish to educa- 
tion. I grant this ; but they have here gained the strength 
and will to climb alone to higher and more rugged ways in 
after life, and through their lives, than any mere refinement of 
schools or colleges could give them. I do not, by this, mean 
to give any preference for the mere culture of earlier days, or 
to reflect upon that of our own ; but I do mean to say that 
the times and ways of business have pressed upon us the 



27 

necessity of educating our youths at too early an age, and 
that elementary studies are too much neglected ; so that we 
lose more in strength than we gain in advantages. I wish we 
might retain the great virtues of earlier times, to be added to 
the improvements of more modern systems ; and if our chil- 
dren do enter upon active life later, they will have more char- 
acter and strength for the duties and perils that await them. 
Of what benefit is stud}^, if the knowledge we get is not our 
own, and does not in some way enter into the character of the 
man ? The little particles of matter absorbed by the roots, 
ascend through the body to the limbs and leaves, and when 
purified and prepared, become a part of the great tree, with 
its mighty trunk, its broad branches and rich foliage. And so 
is the growth of character from the particles of knowledge, 
experience and truth, which, under the blessing of Almighty 
God, are gathered up in life. 

My friends, I have thus imperfectly sketched the settlement 
and condition of this ancient town. This is a day of jubilee. 
We welcome home her children. The citizens of the town 
have opened their houses and their hearts, and bid you wel- 
come. You can here see the old familiar faces you left behind 
you, the pictures on the walls, the old curtains by the win- 
dows, the crockery on the table. They will recall to your 
minds pleasant reminiscences of your earlier days ; they will 
fill the canvas of memory with images of the past ; they will 
speak to you of childhood, and you will live over again, in a 
few brief hours, childhood's happy days. In 3'^onder mound, 
formed by the hand of nature for a country church-yard, 
repose the ashes of our fathers; and the gi*een turf of the 
new-made graves tells us of some fresher griefs. Sadness and 
joy, sorrow and gladness, are strangely commingled in a day 
like this. But such is the lesson of life ; its little history is 
filled with events of which the experience of this day is but a 
brief epitome. When we again leave these homes of child- 
hood, may we go with fresh strength and firmer wills to the 
performance of all the duties of life ; and as geneinition after 
generation shall come and go in future centuries, may the vir- 
tues of our ancestors never be forgotten, and may peace and 
prosperity for ever dwell in this lovely valley ! 



28 

The President. I see here to-day a gifted son of Lancas- 
ter. I refer to Hon. Edward D. Holton, of Wisconsin. The 
audience are waiting to hear him. 

ADDRESS OF MR. HOLTON. 

Mr. Chairman, and Ladies and Gentlemen : 

The first thing I desire to do here to-day (although it 
was not upon my programme when I left home), is to thank 
King Cleorge the Third. I never heard the magnificent char- 
ter of this old town read before, and I come here to thank 
that good old king, — we called him "good" in those days, 
though we did not like him a few years after, and had a good 
round turn with him, — I come here to thank him that, among 
other things, he laid down grand laws for the government of 
this town. How wise was that provision which granted a 
tract of land for the suppoi't of the ministry! Parson Willard 
enjoyed the benefits of that provision up there on his farm; 
and th^ benefits were mutual. Although the Puritans differed 
from him in some matters, yet there was the grand, magnifi- 
cent fact, — a gosjiel for man; the great foundation principle 
of man's progress and welfare. 

Mr. Chairman, the grand tribute which you have just paid 
to the memory of Stockwell, and Page, and Bucknam, most 
thoroughly agrees with all that I have heard of those noble 
men. There were other men, it seems, who came to Lancaster 
with them ; but it remained for Stockwell, particularly, as the 
learned orator has told us, to stay the infant settlement. I 
am told that, the first year, the corn grew well for a time, and 
the people, who had lived upon suckers and clams taken out 
of the river, were looking with hope and confidence to the 
little patches of corn in the meadows ; but the frost came in 
August and killed it all, and with it destroyed all their hopes. 
Several of those men then said : " It is no use to live in this 
country. Here are beautiful meadows and streams, to be sure ; 
the aspects of nature are grand; but food man must have; 
and here, right in the midst of summer, it is all cut off, and 
we can not live here ; we must leave you." Stockwell said : 
" I shall not go back, and I beg you not to go back." " We 
must go back." " Well, I shall stand here. I will go into the 



29 

woods and kill the wild beasts in wintei'. I will stand here 
on the spot." And stand he did. 

Mr. Chairman, it is a blessed thing, growing out of our 
English character, this love of home, — this grand old Saxon 
idea of home. When I got your message, bidding me come 
here from a thousand miles away, I was so circumstanced that 
it was exceedingly difficult for me to leave. But I remem- 
bered my early home; I remembered that here was the place 
of my bii'th ; and though I had traveled far, and seen many 
flourishing communities, and been cognizant of numerous set- 
tlements that had sprung from the wilderness, as Lancaster 
did, still none of these had taken the place of that loved 
home; and though I got oif from a sick bed, my heart bounded 
with joy when I turned ray face homeward. When I got to 
Chicago I met Jim, and Nat, and Selden (three of the White 
brothers), and as we rode along we talked, and laughed, and 
joked, and were like boys again. What a ride w^as that! 
When we went out we had to journey a thousand miles, 
through a country much of it occupied by savages ; we had 
to walk or ride on horseback a great part of the way ; and 
now, on our return, we came careering on twenty-five miles 
an hour, so that in fifty hours we spanned the thousand miles 
between our far western homes, and this, our natal spot. 

As we were riding along in Canada, a gentleman who sat 
behind me called my attention to a range of mountains across 
the magnificent St. Lawrence, and said: "Those mountains 
look splendidly. Do you know whether they are in New-York 
or in Yermont ? " "Well," said I, "I don't think we have 
got down to the Yermont line yet; I think they must be in 
New-York." "Well," said he, "they look good to me. I 
have n't seen any mountains for ten years. I was born among 
the mountains." " Ah ! where wei'e you born ? " "I was 
born in New-Hampshire." "What town in New-Hamp- 
shire ?" (I always claim kindred with New-Hampshire people 
wherever I meet them. I claim them as cousins, and gener- 
ally kiss the women — feeling at liberty to do that.) 

The President. I warn my friend not to come cousining 
down to Boston in his way. (Laughter.) 

Mr. Holton (resuming) — " Well," said he, " I was boi-n in 



30 

Lancaster." " Indeed ! that is my native town, sir. Pray 
tell me j'our name." " My name is Derby." " Indeed ! you 
are a descendant of Isaac Derby." " Yes," said he, "■ my 
father was Andrew Derby." " Indeed ! and your mother was 
Mary Greenleaf ? " "Yes." "Ah! I went to school to your 
mother, Mary (Ireenleaf Where do you live ? " " At Cedar 
Eapids, Iowa." "What is your business?" "I am a mer- 
chant there ; I sell books." He had made his way through 
the States, as hundreds of others have done, as a schoolmaster, 
and finally found himself located in that magnificent country, 
the most beautiful that human eyes ever rested upon — the 
valley of the Cedar river — and has carried out there, from the 
old hearth-stone, the fires that shall now be planted by him, in 
his turn, in that new country. He said there was another 
Lancaster boy on the train, and presently he brought hira 
along, and introduced him as a Chesman boy. Thus we met, 
children of this good old town, and recalled the pleasant 
memories of by-gone times. 

I do not know that I am right, but it has always seemed to 
me that Lancaster was a better town than Percey (formerly 
Stark), or Guildhall, (I hope our friends from those towns will 
pardon me) and I have often reflected what it was that thus 
distinguished my native town. I believe all that the learned 
orator has said in regard to the influence of Lancaster to be 
true ; but what are the causes that have produced this influ- 
ence ? It will be profitable for us to consider that question 
as we meet here to-day. He has said that Mrs. Stockwell 
was the mother of fifteen children, and counted, before 
her death, one hundred and ninety descendants. Why did 
you not clap your hands when he made that statement? 
There is not so honorable a person in the world as she who 
gives human life. Stockwell, and David Greenleaf, who had 
twenty-one children, ought to have monuments to their 
memory. 

The President. Their children are their monuments. 
" These are their jewels." 

Mr. Holton continued — What are the principles that pro- 
duced these results ? Mrs. Stockwell was a model woman. 
She not only read the Psalter, as the orator has told you, but, 



31 

in the absence of a settled minister, she drew the people 
around her, in her own house, to hear that great principle 
which stands first related to human welfare, namely, obedi- 
ence to God. 

But it is not alone of those early people, of whom I know 
nothing except from hearsay, that I would speak. I come 
down to people within my own memory — a goodly company. 
I remember Parson Willard well. So stately was he, so 
august his manner, so magnificent his bearing, that we boys 
were rather afraid of him. I recollect that I used to run 
across the street Avhen I saw him coming. But that fear did 
not keep us quiet in meeting, and sometimes we received a 
pointed rebuke from the pulpit, or the deacon came up into 
the gallery to pinch our ears. (Laughter.) But who shall 
measure the influence and power of such a man ? He stamped 
his influence upon all who came around him. Every man and 
woman — even those who did not go to his church — felt it. 
Nor was he the only man who exerted an abiding influence 
for good. I well remember when other good men came here. 
I came back in the days when Eev. Mr. Peck was here, and 
other men of the same class. And what a power were those 
men in this community, even in the last half of this century — 
Peck, and Hilburn, and Orange Scott, and Wheelock ! And, 
by the way, Mr. Wheelock lives out in Wisconsin now, nearly 
ninety years^ of age; and an efficient man he has been for 
twenty-five years in every good and noble work in that State. 
I hav^ met him often in conventions that have had for their 
object the promotion of the moral and religious welfare of the 
community. We have had energetic men in Lancaster and 
in this neighborhood. The successors of those early settlers, 
Bucknam and Stockwell, were men of power. Here, too, 
were the Weekses, and old Major White, (my friend has done 
no more than justice to that glorious man) and old Colonel 
Wilson. These were sterling men ; these were men of force 
and power, and they have left their mark upon the town. 

Then there has been a class of educated men among us. I 
have often reflected upon that. At the upper end of the 
street, when I was here, there was Pearson, there was Farrar, 
there was a lawyer by the name of Sheafe, a very accom- 



32 

•plished man. These were men of mark ; these were men who 
made their influence felt in this community. Beside these, 
there was A, N. Brackett, a modest, unassuming man, not a 
man of education — self-made, almost entirely. My mother, 
who relied upon him for counsel in times of adversity, used 
to send me down to his house, and I always found him read- 
ing or studying. I heard him deliver one or two orations 
here. I remember him as a man of great philanthropy, emi- 
nently just and patriotic, and a good man in the community. 
What a man of power was John W. Weeks ! I remember 
meeting him on one occasion, and he laid his hand on my 
head and said — " Young man, you are one of Mrs. Holton's 
sons, ar n't you ?" " Yes, sir." " What are you going to do ?" 
" I do n't know; I shall dig my way along, I suppose." " Why 
do n't 3-ou go West? If 1 had ten boys, I would spank every 
one of them if they did n't go West." [Laughter.] That 
was a blunt remark ; but he was a steady, thoughtful, and 
cautious man. Edward Spaulding has been alluded to. I re- 
member him as a most excellent man. Then there was William 
Lovejoy, a neighbor of ours. My recollection of him is of the 
most satisfactory kind. He used frequently to come, with his 
basket in his hand, and saddle-bag of tools on his back, to 
his daj^'s work as carpenter and joiner. I have seen him 
many times wheeling his bushel of corn down to the mill to 
be ground. I recollect him as a man of singular beauty and 
dignity of character. How did vii'tue stand out in his life, 
and how is it seen streaming along down through a goodly 
family ! I want to say, once more, that the lives of such 
men fill the world with goodness. Well have I known some 
members of this family. I wanted, above all things, to see 
John Lovejoy here to-day, and exceedingly regret that I 
can not. 

Now, how has it been with those sons of Lancaster who 
have gone out from this valley to try their future in other 
parts of the land ? So far as I can reckon them up — and I 
have endeavored to keep an eye on a few of them — they 
have done tolerably well. Perhaps I may be permitted to 
say — leaving the two speakers on this occasion out — that, 
so far as I know, none of them have gone to the State Prison, 



33 

(lauglater,) none of them have dishonored their town. On 
the other hand, many of our Lancaster men have ornamented 
the various walks of life. If you want to buy any sugar, go 
to Portland, and buy of Mr. Brown. If you want to buy any 
clothing, you will find the White boys, at Chicago, fair deal- 
ers. If you want any scales, go to St. Johnsbury, and buy of 
Baker, Bingham & Porter. Those St. Johnsbury scales have 
a'great reputation ; there is not a merchant on the continent 
who would think he could get along without them, and I be- 
lieve there are no better scales in the world ; but I think they 
would have failed without our Lancaster boys, Oliver Baker, 
Chandler Porter, and Mr. Bingham, Then we have a distin- 
guished representative of Lancaster on the bench, in the 
person of Judge \Yoodruff; so, if you have suits to be tried, 
try them before him. If you want a lawyer, go to Oregon 
and get Farrar; but be sure you get him here before your 
suit comes on ! (Laughter.) 

Mr. Chairman, the hours are rapidly passing away. I shall 
not trespass much longer upon your patience. There is a 
long list of names that I have run over in my mind, as those 
of men particularly worthy of mention on an occasion like 
this ; but, in the hasty remarks that I have made, many of 
them have slipped from my memory. These men deserve to 
be remembered and honored, for they laid broad and deep the 
foundations of public and private virtue in this town, without 
which the welfare of no community can be secured. Let 
every man, and especially these young men, understand this, 
that in this day of our country's peril and our country's need, 
when there is accumulating upon us such a burden of debt, 
private virtue is the only thing that will shield us in these 
trying hours. It is the virtue of the individual men and 
women who have lived within her borders that has shielded 
Lancaster in the past ; it is that which has brought us to- 
gether here, and made us joyful beyond measure in the 
greetings of this Centennial day. 

Let me say, in conclusion, that I come home with inci-eas- 
ing love for my native town. And let me exhort you to stand 
by the principles of your fathers. I shall go back to the 
West feeling more and more the imi)ortance of those princi- 



34 

pies, and feeling called upon to gird myself up, so long as 1 
live, to maintain those principles, and help to lay the same 
foundations that our fathers laid. 

There is one other matter to which I wish to refer. You, 
sir, alluded to our first Preceptor, Mr. Wilson. I also want to 
thank him. They used to thrash us most tremendously, 
those old school-masters. No doubt the boys and girls needed 
considerable whipping, but they pounded us most unmerci- 
fully. When Mr. Wilson came here, he turned over a new 
leaf. He said, "You are gentlemen, and fine fellows." That 
pleased us amazingly. We accepted his word, and he never 
had occasion to whip any of us, I think. I want to say that 
I owe a great deal to Mr. Wilson for the noble reformation 
that he made in this respect. He first taught our school here 
in the old school-house, and then assumed the charge of the 
academy. I had the pleasure of attending just one term at 
the school and then one term at the academy; and I never 
gained in my life, from any one mind, so much benefit as I 
derived from that gentleman's instruction in those few brief 
months. I have always attributed much of my success in 
life to the excellent ideas and excellent spirit which he incul- 
cated. Be careful, you that are engaged in teaching, how 
you deal with young minds. Learn from him to deal gently, 
kindly with them. To lead is better than to drive. We are 
all able to speak of the excellence of that school, which has 
existed now the major part of half a century. 

My friends, this is indeed a joyous day. You, sir, spoke of 
the beauty of our town. I come back to testify to the same 
thing. I have had an opportunity to look over this country 
quite extensively, and I can say that you enjoy one of the 
most fixvored spots that are to be found in this whole land. 
So far as healthfulness of climate, soil and temperature, and 
the other great elements that go to make up the prosperity of 
any country are concerned, I should scarcely know where to 
go rather than to this very locality. In 1862, I had occasion 
to travel through New-England, when the land was suff'ering 
severely from drouth, and as I approached Portland there 
were a thousand acres on fire; the roots of the grass were 
being burned up ; all that region was as barren as a desert. I 



35 

came to Lancaster, and this beautiful valley was green as the 
garden of Pai'adise. It is so to-day. All through the West 
we are suffering from a severe drouth. The farmers are not 
expecting to get half a crop. Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, are 
suffering dreadfttlly. But everything here is green and beau- 
tiful; and, take it year by year, I do not know where you 
could go to better your fortunes. Not but that you can find 
magnificent openings in the West; but the man who has got 
a good home, let him not sell out that home because he ex- 
pects to find a better. He may find a better one in some 
respects ; but I tell you, look far and long before you part 
with these green fields and these magnificent slopes, because 
of any hearsay story of better lands. 

Mr. Chairman, I have trespassed too long upon your pa- 
tience. We shall not meet at Lancaster again, at the end of 
another century. Time, with many of us, flies quickly. Let 
us act well our part, upon the principles that have been sug- 
gested, and whether we meet here again or not, all is well. 

The President. My honorable friend has not trespassed 
upon our patience. I would beg leave, however, to make a 
simple correction of one of his remarks. When he spoke of 
the Lancaster boys who had not been to the State Prison, he 
excepted himself and excepted me. I desire to relieve him 
from excepting me. He shall enjoy that distinguished honor 
alone. (Laughter.) 

Another piece of music was then performed by the band, 
after which the procession was reformed and marched to the 
field a short distance south of the church, where a rustic 
bower of evergreens and maples, covering two thirds of an 
acre, had been constructed, affording a pleasant and grateful 
shade. In this bower tables had been spread for two thousand 
five hundred people, and were abundantly supplied with sub- 
stantial and attractive viands, to which the ^arge company, 
filling the capacious bower, did full justice. Prayer was 
offered by Rev. Mr. Fay, of the Congregational church, and 
then a half hour or more was spent in discussing the bountiful 
repast, which was served by a committee of ladies, who de- 



36 

voted themselves assiduously and untiringly to the comfort of 
their guests. The wants of the physical natui-e having been 
satisfied, the President called the company to order. 

The President. The ladies are requested, as far as possi- 
ble, to be seated. For the first time in all the world some of 
them are obstructions. (Laughter.) I am not aware of any 
way by which we can contrive to be heard, unless the audience 
remain silent. 

We have a few gentlemen present, whose names are promi- 
nent in our minds, and we shall desire to hear from them, for 
they must have something to say. Having occupied your 
attention so long this morning, I will not preface the exercises 
here with any remai'ks of my own. I therefore call upon the 
Marshal for the first regular toast. 

Col. Kent. In the absence of the toast-master, (Jacob Ben- 
ton, Esq.) various toasts, sentiments and letters have been 
committed to my care. I will read them, prefacing the read- 
ing, however, by saying that I have been so occupied in com- 
pleting the other arrangements for this celebration, that I 
have had but very little time to arrange or systematize them, 
and consequently they must be received with indulgence. 

The Officers and Soldiers present. Amid the quiet scenes of 
peace, we by no means forget the services of those brave men 
who have dared the dangers of battle to secure us in the 
peaceful enjoyment of scenes like the present. The citizen 
soldier of the American Eepublic, who does his whole duty, 
bravely, quietly and unflinchingly, has a claim upon the respect 
and support of the people which they in their turn are always 
ready to manifest. It is with peculiar pleasure that we wit- 
ness these men, representatives of other of our brave boys 
now in the field, with us to-day. 

The President. We have scarcely referred to-day to .the 
military spirit of our ancient town, and yet I think it may 
be remembered with pride. There occur to me at this moment 
the names of many of our citizens who have done noble ser- 
vice for their country; and I desire to read a little notice, 
which I find in the Brooklyn (N. Y.) Union, of the services 
of a gallant gentleman whom I see before me. 



37 

" In front op Petersburg, ] 
Thiu'sday, June 23. j 

The time of the Sixty-seventh New-York Volunteers — bet- 
ter known as the First Long IsLand Eegiment — having 
expired, they left for home yesterday. This regiment was 
one of the first three years regiments mustered into the ser- 
vice, and has pai-ticipated in nearly every battle of the war. 
Leaving Fort Schuyler in June, 1861, for Fort Hamilton, it 
was shortly afterward sent to Queen's Farm, near Washing- 
ton, where it was placed in the brigade in which it has ever 
since remained. The first campaign participated in was the 
celebrated one made to Manassas, by McClellan, when our 
troops discovered plenty of wooden guns, but no enemy. 
The I'egiment next took part in the Peninsula campaign, and 
was one of the first to land at Old Point. It was activel}' 
engaged at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, and Fair 
Oaks (at the latter fight losing 185 men); then in the seven 
days' battle, Chantilly, Antietam, Williamsport, and subse- 
quently, under Burnside, at Fredericksburg. At second Fred- 
ericksburg, it stormed Mary's Height and Salem Height, when 
they were compelled to recross at Banks' Ford, the First Long 
Island, with eight other regiments, under command of Col. 
Cross, covering the movement. Was with the Sixth, when 
that corps crossed the Eappahannock, as Lee moved on with 
the. rebel army to Pennsylvania, and subsequently was en- 
gaged two days at Gettysburg. When Gen. Newton took 
command of the First Corps, the Sixth was near Westminster, 
and marched thirty-six miles between 9 o'clock P. M. and 4 
A. M., and went into the fight under Gen. Sykes, just in time 
to render important service. After the afi'airs at Rappahan- 
nock Station and Mine Run, the regiment was sent to John- 
son's Island to guard pi'isoners, and last April was again sent 
to the front, and rejoined the Fourth Brigade, First Division, 
Sixth Corps, and has participated in nearly every battle of the 
present campaign, in the Wildei'ness losing 12o out of 270 
men. In the Wilderness, Col. Cross assumed command of the 
brigade, after Gen. Shaler had been taken prisoner. At 
S^iottsj'lvania, the colors were pierced in twenty-three jolaces 
by bullets, and the flag-staff was shattered and the color- 
bearer killed." 

That is a truthful description of the noble part taken by 
Col. Cross in the present war. It speaks for itself. I have 
read it because it is a record so honorable. He has been in 
every fight; he has done his duty faithfully, and comes here 
to-day, having passed unharmed through every danger. I 
now beg leave to call upon Colonel Cross, G7th N. Y. Reg., for 
a few remarks. 



38 



SPEECH OF COL. NELSON CROSS. 



3fen and Women of Lancaster : I beard of your celebration 
in the army, some weeks before my time expired. I was then 
so circumstanced that I thought it doubtful, in more than one 
view, whether I should be able to be with you to-day. I 
thought your celebration was to be on the 12th, and I took 
the evening cars on the 11th, determined to be here at the 
close of the exercises, if I could not before. But on my way 
I met some friends on their route, who informed me that it 
was to be on the 14th, and that I was still in time. I was 
glad to know it. I wished to be here, to meet my old friends, 
and to witness that reunion of Lancaster people which I 
knew would be so productive of pleasure to us all. I wished 
to come simply to mingle with you as one of your citizens, 
not to take an active j)art ; and when I was asked to address 
you here, I rather declined. I wished to be a simple looker- 
on. I never felt less like speaking than I do to-day. This 
coming together of old friends — this thronging upon me of 
old memories, the dearest of my life ; this standing amidst 
the old scenes of my boyhood, is too much for me. It utterly 
unmans me, and unfits me to address you as I should. 

My career in the army has been alluded to. It is true I 
have been in the army for three years. I went there, not 
because I ^ad been bred to the profession of arms, not be- 
cause I had any liking for that profession, for I had not, but 
because I saw the country in danger, and I felt that the great 
danger arose from the fact that we were not a military nation. 
We had become one of the greatest commercial nations on the 
face of the earth ; we had become a great agricultural people ; 
but we had devoted less time and money to military training, 
to preparing ourselves for human butchery, than any other 
nation in existence; and I felt, as a citizen, called on to go 
forth to the field, and I gave up all and went. I spent some 
time in organizing a regiment in Brookl}^, New York, where 
IJiappened to be living, raising and organizing it in opposi- 
tion to some of the leading politicians of the place ; but when 
I called upon the General Governtnent to accept it, they 
thought they did not want it ; they thought they had enough ; 



39 

seventy-five thousand men, they thought, were mox'e than 
suflicient to crush out this rebellion. Finally, however, they 
were prevailed upon to take us. On the 20th of June, 1861, 
we were mustered into the service, and from that time to this 
we have participated in the campaigns of the army of the 
Potomac. Further than this, for myself, I cannot say. We 
have done our duty. We have gone wherever we liave been 
sent; we have stayed wherever we have been put. I brought 
home but the fragment of a regiment. That is the saddest 
part of it all. The soil of Virginia has been made sacred in 
this war as it was never made before. Among you, how 
many there are who have cause to mourn the loss of some 
relative or friend, who has been left on the field, or here, on 
yonder sacred hill, sleeps among his dearest friends, whose ca- 
reer has been cut short by this terrible war, w4iich, I fear, is 
not yet near its end ! I have this to say for the citizen sol- 
diers, however, as a general remark. 'No better soldiers ever 
lived, no braver men ever went forth to battle, than the men 
who have been sent forth by your State and by other States, 
— men Vho, from the counting-house and the plough, all 
unskilled in the art of war, sprang to arms when their coun- 
try was threatened, and went forth, as I said before, to the 
field. They have done all that is vested in human power to 
do; they have combatted an enemy as fearless, as determined, 
as persistent, as ever an enemy was, and have failed to over- 
come him, simply because they have met him — as a general 
thing — at great disadvantage, and frequently, too frequent- 
ly, with overpowering numbers opposed to them. During the 
last campaign, we attacked him in his fortified positions, 
and eveiywhere we found him ready to receive us, and in 
force equal to our own. You wonder, perhaps, why liicli- 
mond has not been taken. If you had been with me, if you 
had passed through the scenes I have passed through, you 
would know why Richmond has not been taken, and you 
would know that 3'ou have got more to do at home before 
Eichmond can betaken. You must make further sacrifices; 
more men must go forth to battle. I would it were not so. 
But let us rest where the old Roman rested, on whose sword 
was inscribed, " Draw me not without cause ; sheath me not 



40 

without redress " — on patriotism and valor. You have 
drawn the sword in the most sacred cause in which man was 
ever engaged — the preservation of your liberties. I beg you 
not to sheath that sword until the work is accomplished ; 
until the power of the rebellion is crushed, and the country is 
restored to peace. 

I hope you do not think I am making a political speech. I 
am no partisan; I have given up party, and I know but one 
principle, and that is, to stand hy the country at all times, at 
all hazards, and under all circumstances. (Applause). When 
the chairman told me I was to say something to-day, I felt as 
I have told you — utterly unprepared to give voice to the 
feelings that crowd upon my soul. I feel so now. Instead 
of offering a sentiment to call up some one individual, I will 
conclude with a sentiment which addresses itself to all, which 
I have prepared since I was invited to speak, and you will 
excuse me from saying more now. I would say, however, 
that there is no individual among you who experiences a 
higher pleasure or a sincerer gratitude to God that he is per- 
mitted to mingle with joii to-day than I do. A few years ago, 
in Milwaukee, I met the gentleman who has addressed you 
(Mr. Holton), and we had some conversation in regard to a 
reunion of Lancaster people ; but the war broke out soon 
after that, and these things were forgotten. But in spite of 
the war, you determined to bring about such a reunion, and I 
rejoice that you have been so successful in drawing together 
Lancaster people from all parts of the country, and have 
given occasion to every one to rejoice in the embrace of old 
friends. 

Once again the blooming valley 

Offers up its grateful charms, 
■And the circling hills securely 

Fold you in their shielding arms. 

Lo, the mountains ! famous ever 

In the architectural plan, — 
Thus it is that God, the Father, 

Here reveals himself to man. 

In these -wondrous works behold him, 
See his image, hear his voice, 



41 

"Who liatli made the hills to blossom, 
^And the mountains to rejoice. 

Beared within these classic borders, 
Edged and tempered for the strife. 

Ye have probed the world's disorders, 
Leading men to better life. 

Art and science, manifestations 

Of the Infinite and True, 
Ye have spread among the nations, 

Foremost where there's work to do. 

Bring your laurel branches hither, 

Lay them on the altar's hearth ; 
They will keep your memory greener 

In the land that gave you birth. 

The second regular toast was then read, as follows : 
The Day we celebrate. Prom the shadowy past throngs 
of those who have left forever their earthly home seem 
hovering near, as we celebrate the centennial of the town 
made pleasant and rich by their labor. We welcome to-day, 
beneath the hills and among the streams of their 3^outh, those 
who have labored in other fields, but who retain children's 
regard for their early home. Nerved by the duty of the 
present, and encouraged by memories of the jiast, may this 
day prove as a white stone among the years of our lives, and 
serve, by its associations, to bind more closely together the 
hearts and sympathies of all Avho have ever called Lancaster 
their home. 

The Phesident. Some years ago, I happened to be travel- 
ing through the western country, and came to the city of 
Milwaukee. It presented a New-England aj)pearance. I 
always find that I can trace New-England people by the New- 
England houses and scenes around them. Take a New-Eng- 
land man and cast him into the wilderness, and he will sow, 
as far as he can reach, New-England principles and habits. 
On inquiry, I found in that city a New-England man, whom 
they told me was one of the fathers of the place ; having 
lived through its entire history. I remember that only thirty 
years ago Wisconsin was made a territory, and it has been a 
State but fifteen years. I find that it is six times as large 



42 

as the State of New-Hampshire, and has 150,000 children 
in the public schools. Who could stand with such pros- 
perity? Who could lead and direct it; who create it ? Well, 
my friends, I will show you the man who contributed to it 
largely; one of my old schoolmates, Edward D. Holton. And 
now, if he is here, I would like to know what he has .to say 
about Wisconsin. There was one thing more that I saw in 
Milwaukee. I went down to the market, and found there a 
cart load of salmon-trout floundering about, that had not been 
out of the lake, apparently, more than half an hour. They 
were as large as calves ! [Loud laughter]. It is the greatest 
country I ever saw, out there; and Milwau.kee is one of the 
greatest places ; and this gentleman [Hon. Edward D. Holton] 
is one of the greatest men in that place. (Renewed merriment.) 

SPEECH OF HON. E. D. HOLTON. 

I wonder if there is any Justice of the Peace here? I want 
to have this young man indicted. [Laughter]. He has dealt 
most profusely in broad statements, which I think^ought to 
expose him to a great deal of censure. I think he is indicta- 
ble, though I am not much of a lawyer. Now about those sal- 
mon, big as calves ! That is a big story. Old Billy Ingerson 
never saw as big salmon as that in the Connecticut, in all his 
life, although he saw awful big salmon, as well as big bears. 
(Laughter). 

I heard the name of Milwaukee, the city whei*e I have the 
honor to live, mentioned by our excellent and esteemed Presi- 
dent. Well, friends, it has been my fortune to see what, per- 
haps, falls to the lot of but few persons of my age to see. I 
have witnessed every brick raised in that city of noAV sixty 
thousand inhabitants. When I went to Milwaukee it was a 
hamlet, and there was but a single brick house — a one-story 
building. Now it is literally a city of bricks. One of the 
peculiarities of the town is, that there is an extraordinary 
deposit of clay, that makes a yellow or cream-colored brick. 
Those bricks are found all over the country. There is scarcely 
a city in the United States that has not noAV some handsome 
structure, built of those bricks. The}' make a peculiarly 



43 

handsome material for building. Milwaukee is a cream-eolored 
city — the natural color of the bricks. Very superior bricks 
are these; they are equal to marble for endurance. It has 
been my privilege, also, to see that people grow. I -have seen 
the people come trooping in until the State has reached a pop- 
ulation of a million. Many of these people ai-e Germans. I 
have seen a great deal of the Germans, and I have come to 
love them very much. At least twenty or twenty-five thou- 
sand of the inhabitants of Milwaukee are Germans. They 
are a noble people. They have some peculiarities. They are 
very fond of lager beer, and deal in it almost everywhere; 
but now and then a Yankee likes a little lager. But still, they 
are a most industrious, law-abiding people, and a people of 
great productive power. To illustrate the stability of the 
Germans, I will mention that I took a lad, twelve years old, 
from the street, who was indentured to me, in the old fash- 
ioned way, for six or seven years. That was in 1842, twenty- 
five years ago; and that boy has remained with me from that 
time to this — that is, in the difterent stations I have occupied. 
He is.now a bookkeeper in one of the banks, to which I intro- 
duced him, having brought him up to that business. This 
steadiness and tenacity in business are what we need, and we 
shall borrow them from the German character. 

Another characteristic of the German is his love for home. 
Any Yankee will go to work and fix up a farm, and then sell 
it right out, without even asking permission of his wife, if he 
can get his price. Not so with the Germans, Mr. Chairman. 
I can take you to man}- a German who would not sell you 
his farm if you covered it Mnth gold. It is worth twenty 
dollars an acre, perhaps. You say to him, " I will give you 
twenty-one." "No." "I will give you twenty-two." "No." 
"I will give you twenty-five." '•' No; you can't buy it at all." 
" Why not ?" " It is my house — my home." Well, this sta- 
bility of character, united with the characteristics of our 
people, is really going to improve us. A good cross is an 
advantage. That boy to whom I have referred is now a 
young man, and is worth $25,000, which he has accumulated 
by little savings. I want to call the attention of j'oung Amer- 
ican men to this element of the German character — steadi- 



44 

ness, perseverance and economy. It is an element which we 
need to incorporate into the American character. So in Mil- 
waukee, I congratulate myself at the new type of character 
that the German population will bring among us. They are 
peculiar in some things, as I said before. They have departed 
from the old faith of Luthex', to a considerable extent. They 
are a little degenerate in the matter of theology, but that we 
hope to remedy. Our schools are open ; the New-England 
element comes in, and wo hope to gather up all the children 
to meet together in our common schools. We hope to keep 
ourselves well up with the times in that regard. We have 
now nine school-houses, three stories high, which have cost 
from fifteen to fort}" thousand dollars apiece. I know of no 
public buildings around there that are so handsome and ele- 
gant as they ai-e. Into those schools wo introduce the best 
talent that can be got, as teachers. Our common schools will 
carry the young man or the young maiden up to the lan- 
guages, and perfect them in eveiy thing they need. And we 
are spreading this education broadcast, as you do, to all those 
German, and Irish, and Scotch, and Welch, that come among 
US J and thus we will produce a homogeneous population, that 
shall spead out, and produce, we hope, a higher order of char- 
acter than we have jet seen on the continent, in that valley 
of the Mississippi. God, we trust, will bless the efforts that 
are being put forth, not only by Milwaukee, but by other 
cities and towns in the West. The great city of Chicago 
might be instanced, in a far grander sense than Milwaukee, 
for they have done nobler and better in all those matters that 
stand related to the highest welfare of the community. By 
applying these instrumentalities we hope finally to prepare a 
population that shall be, Avith you here, a sheet-anchor, that 
shall hold the nation against any force that may be brought 
against it. 

The President. This is an occasion when the forms of 
men rise up before us swifter than thought. Of the oldest 
inhabitants, I can not help mentioning the name of Barnard, 
whose white locks and venerable appearance I well recollect, 
for he was aged when I came to Lancaster. He was a man 
of extensive culture, a fine speaker, and an honorable gentle- 



45 

man. He has gone from among us, but his life and character 
■will be valuable, now and always. I remember, too, Eichard 
Eastman, one of the most honored and honorable men in our 
town. He was a man without reproach. Fortunate is he 
■who successfully follows his example. Henry Ward Beecher 
once said that he wanted to live among the hills, where there 
had been trouble; where there had been steam power, which 
had thrown up, in some grand convulsion, great mountains. 
It was a very ancient engine that burst when these hills were 
blown up from their deep foundations. There is a gentleman 
here to-day who has always been familiar with steam power, 
and on the train of fortune. But he loves his mountian home. 
He is a son of Lancaster, who went out into the world alone, 
and has come back, bearing the record of an honorable and 
successful life. I mean Nathaniel White, Esq. He sends 
me this sentiment, being too modest to speak : 

May our town always keep on the track of prosperit}^, and 
may her merchandize be transjjorted as successfully as this 
occasion transports us. 

The third regular toast was then read, as follows : 
Our Friends from abroad. We give a cordial welcome to 
our brothers and sisters who come from their distant homes 
to gather around the old hearthstones of their infancy. The 
currents of their lives have run in different channels, but 
to-day they unite in a broad and peaceful stream, bearing on 
its bosom a precious freight of warm memories and cordial 
love. As we separate from around this board, and narrate in 
each cheerful home the history of the years that have gone 
since last we met, let us all bear in mind that among the 
affections incident to human nature there is no emotion more 
chaste, pure and noble, than the love of early scenes and early 
fi'iends. Our welcome to you is sincere ; may your experience 
prove it agreeable. 

The President. The gentleman who was expected to 
respond to that toast was the first Preceptor of the Academy 
in this place, Nathaniel Wilson ; and I know there are many 
of his old pupils here to-day who will be delighted to see and 
hear him. He claims not to have educated me wholly, but 



46 

only half of me. I am sorry to say, however, that in that he 
is mistaken ; it was her sister. (Laughter). The value of the 
services that gentleman has rendered the town cannot be cal- 
culated. His pupils all speak of him with respect and affec- 
tion. If present, I wish he would come forward and address 
them a moment. 

[Mr. Wilson did not respond, and the President continued] : 
My friends, before any of you retire, there is a little 
business to be transacted. I propose that when adjourn, 
it be to meet again at this place on the fourteenth of July, 
1964, (laughter and applause) ; and I venture, in behalf of the 
committee of arrangements, to invite all of you to be pres- 
ent. (Renewed merriment). The orator will by that time be 
ready to deliver his oration, and the Governors of Massachu- 
setts and New-Hampshire will be able to attend. If it is 
your wish, when we do adjourn, to adjourn for a hundred 
years, and to meet as proposed, you will say " Aye." ("Aye," 
— "aye.") It is a unanimous vote; therefore, you will all 
be here. (Great merriment.) 

Col. Kent. I have been requested to offer this toast, and 
I have also been assigned to respond to it : 

Otir honored Dead. The affectionate remembrance of a 
grateful community is the noblest homage we can pay to the 
worth and noble services of those devoted sons of our town 
who have laid their lives a willing sacrifice upon the altar of 
their country, during the present war. Heroic and chivalric 
in their lives, there is not a blemish upon their escutcheon in 
death. " Without fear and without reproach," may fittingly 
be written upon their monument. Among the first to spring 
to arms, the sons of this town have made practical their 
patriotism. Amid the fierce fire which blazed along the 
heights of Fredericksburg — in the hoarse thunder which 
revei'berated above that valley of death at Gettysburg — from 
along the blue waters of the Potomac, the bright Eappahan- 
nock, and from the southern coasts, as well as from the 
crowded wards of army hospitals, their souls have gone up to 
that God who watches over the widowed and the fatherless. 
Their names are all dear to us, their memory dearer; and we 



47 

recni", %Yith sad pleasure, to their heroic devotion, on this anni- 
versary of that town they loved so well in life, and over 
which, let us hope, their spirits are hovering to-day. 

Mr. President: In nothing but my deep love for the old 
town of my nativity, and for the soldiers who have gone out 
from among us, am I fitted to speak to this toast. I can truly 
say that I have never experienced more pleasure upon any 
occasion than upon this ; for if there is any emotion of my 
heart which is pure, and strong, and undying, it is love for 
the town of Lancaster, and for its people; those older than 
myself, and those who were the friends of my boyhood, who 
now are, or who have been, residents of this town ; and I 
should illy appreciate the evidences of public confidence and 
personal regard, which it has been my proudest satisfiiction to 
have received, did I, on a day like the present, amid scenes 
like these around me, fiiil to give utterance to the warm love 
that I entertain for my native town and its people. Certainly, 
on an occasion like this, when we are assembled from all sec- 
tions of our common country, to celebrate the hundredth 
anniversary of this town, it is very fitting and appropriate 
that we should remember, in a peculiar manner, those who 
have gone from among us and given up their lives for their 
country. They are all equally honorable. Whether a soldier 
fell at the head of his brigade in a fiery charge, or whether 
his life went out silentl;;^ from the wards of a hospital, he 
equally gave up his life for his country, and is equally worthy 
of remembrance by the people of this town. 

Our roll of honor is long. Every quota has been filled; 
and I am happy to say to our friends from abroad, who take 
an interest in the old town, that Lancaster to-day stands 
ahead of all the calls that have been made upon her patriot- 
ism, having a handsome surplus. She sent forward a company 
to the first regiment that went from this State; but, that regi- 
ment having been previously filled, it was unable to join it, 
and was sent to the second, w^here it remained, participating in 
every battle of that gallant corps, until its members were dis- 
charged from the service at the expiration of their enlist- 
ment. 

Lancaster has been represented in nearly every regiment. 



48 

Long as has been the roll of honor, the list of our dead is also 
long. I have endeavored, since I was assigned to respond to 
this toast, to gather the military statistics of the town, which 
1 now present, with a list of the brave men who have fallen, 
and who should be honored by our people as having sacrificed 
their lives for the common good, and for the peace and pros- 
perity that we enjoy to-day. 

From the beginning of the war to the present time, Lan- 
caster has sent 179 men into the field; there have also been 9 
re-enlistments ; making an aggregate of 187 men out of a 
population of 2024. Of these, 163 were enlisted for three 
years, and 34 for nine months. The list embraces all ranks in 
the service, from colonels to corporals and privates ; all good 
men, and equally deserving. Of this muster-roll, and includ- 
ing the names of three, John H. White, Jr., Edward Allen, 
and Charles Cady, who were serving in commands outside 
the State, 31 have either been killed in battle or have died in 
the service. 

The names of these martja's, so far as I can now give 
them, are Col. Edward E. Cross, Lt. John C. Lewis, Francis 
Hay ward, John H. White, Jr., Lt. M. W. Humphrey, Sergt. 
Lewis P. Summers, Corp. James S. Kent, Corp. R. O. Young, 
Corp. E. E. Jones, Timothy Grannis, F. A. Wentworth, C. H. 
Kane, Cyrus Savage, Edward B. Wilder, Wm. H. Allen, Ed- 
ward Allen, Louis La Point, John G. Sutton, Patrie McCaf- 
frey, Philip 3IcCaffrey, Jared Grey, Aurin Morse, Freeman 
Perkins, Wm. Farnham, E. Jarvis, W. Jarvis, Charles Cady, 
J. K. Hodge, Ha G. Douglass, , Frederick Ingerson, Lucien 
Thomas. 

At the head of the list in rank, though not in bravery — for, 
as I have already said, all were equally brave and all are 
equally to be honored — is the name of the lamented Col. Cross, 
who fell about a year ago, and whose body rests in yonder 
cemetery. It was with emotions of the deepest grief that I 
heard of his death, for he was the friend of my boyhood, 
sharing, fully, many of the warmest feelings of my heart. 
He earl}^ took his position in the field, raising a regiment and 
disciplining it with wonderful skill for that early period; a 
regiment which was distinguished for its bravery and daring, 



49 

among all the brave and daring regiments of the army; a 
regiment always the first to meet the foe. He poured out his 
life bravely at that fearful battle of Gettysburg, on the right 
of the second corps, when ordered up to support Sickles' corps, 
as it gave \vaj on Thursday. He Avas a brave, chivalric and 
noble man; impulsive and hasty in his utterance, but always 
making good, by his acts, eveiy thing he said. I know there 
was nothing to which he looked forward with more anxious 
longing than the close of the war, that he might return to the 
place of his nativity, and mingle with the friends of his youth; 
and he earnestly wished that if he fell on the field, his ashes 
might be laid among kindred and friends at home. 

A brave man fell when Lieutenant John G. Levv'is, of the 
9th Regiment, was killed — rallying his company upon the 
heights of Fredericksburg. He was not a native of this town 
by birth, but by adoption. No more unassuming, no braver 
man, than Lieut. Lewis, ever went out from among us. 

We lost a young man, loved and esteemed b}^ all who knew 
him, when Frank Hey wood died in the hospital at Bladens- 
burg. An appropriate tribute was paid to his memory, in the 
steps that were taken by his fellow-townsman to bring him 
back, and give him fitting burial among the friends he loved 
so well. 

John H. White, Jr., a young man much esteemed, was a 
member of the Chicago Mercantile Battery, and died of a se. 
vere wound received at the siege of Vicksburg. Lieut. Hum- 
phrey was killed in the recent battles before Petersburg ; 
Corporal Kent was killed by a sharpshooter, the day after the 
great battle at Gettysburg ; Corporal Young died of fever 
contracted on the Chickahominy ; Corporal Jones was shot at 
Spottsylvania ; J. K. Hodge fell at the Wilderness; Fred In- 
gerson died of fearful wounds received at Fort Wagner; Gran- 
nis fell dead in his tent, from sudden disease ; Kane returned 
to meet with kind nursing at the hands of friends, and Sum- 
mers, Wentworth, Savage, Wilder, the Alden boys, the Mc- 
Cafi'reys, Grey, Morse, Douglass and Thomas, breathed out 
their lives away from home and friends, in the wards of army 
hospitals. Of the cause of death of the others in the list, I 
regret to sav that I am ignorant. Many of these departed 
4 



50 

braves were brought back, through the affectionate love of 
relatives and friends, and they now sleejD quietly in the church- 
yard where they played when boys. Others have found burial 
where they fell, or where they lay down from the weary 
struggle with wounds and disease; in each case, leaving be- 
hind a record untarnished, and ennobled with the virtues that 
mark the career of the volunteer soldier. 

I may have omitted the names of some, but have gathered 
such as I could, in the brief time I have had for preparation, 
and present them here to-day, that they may receive — as I 
know they will — the warmest affection of every person here 
congregated. 

I welcome here to-day all the friends from abroad who have 
gathered together on this occasion. I sincerely hope that the 
expectations that have induced them to undertake the long 
journeys that many of them have made may be fully realized. 
I trust that the day may be one of pleasant incidents as it 
passes, and of pleasant remembrances hereafter ; and I trust 
that, as we recall this day at Lancaster, amid the scenes of our 
earlier life, we may cherish, with fondest memory and the 
kindest and most undying regard, the names of those brave, 
loyal, and patriotic sons of our town, who went out from 
among us, and have laid down their lives upon the altar of 
their country, that we may enjoy, in common with the country 
at large, the peace that smiles upon this State and upon this 
community to-day. (Loud applause.) 

The President. I do not mean to say, ladies and gentle- 
men, that Lancaster has ever felt very materially any of its 
great losses, because its resources have been so unbounded. 
It has, however, been quite a custom in times past, for inquir- 
ing young men, and also, sometimes, for sober, serious and 
disconsolate older ones, to make pilgrimages to our mountains, 
to recuperate their health and restore their spirits. They 
often came to Lancaster for relief, and, for a spiritual medi- 
cine, carry off our daughters, to adorn other homes, in other 
States. I have seen here to-day one of these fortunate men 
from Massachusetts, a valued acquaintance and friend of mine 
for some years. If Mr. Ezra C. Hutchins is in the audience, 
I would like to ask him what sentiment he cherishes for the 



51 

town of Lancaster, the bii-th-place of liis better half? I know 
he has very happy feelings and a most thankful disiDOsition 
concerning us. I will venture to say he is a very fortunate 
man, and must know it. (Laughter.) 

Mr. HuTCHiNS sent up the following toast : May the daugh- 
ters of Lancaster be found as lovely in the future as they have 
been in the past. 

Fourth regular toast : 

Our Common Country. While we gather here to celebrate 
the hundredth birth-day of our goodly town, let us remember 
the glorious history of that common country throughout 
whos^ limits our homes are scattered. May treason and re. 
bellion meet the reward they merit. May a restored Union and 
the enforcement of the constitution and the laws, soon mark 
the end of this unhappy struggle which ambitious and wicked 
men have forced upon the country. 

The President. I have been requested to call upon Daniel 
C, PiNKHAM, Esq., to respond to this toast. 

Li the necessary absence of Mr. Pinkham, the next senti- 
ment was announced by the toast-master : 

The Ancient Fraternity. Almost co-existent with the settle- 
ment of the *town is the date of the old Lodge, represented 
her to-day. To it and to the Commandery we give a cordial 
welcome, remembering that their history is so interwoven 
with the history of the town and the acts of its settlers as to 
almost make them identical. The institution has merited well 
at our hands. May it flourish — an honor to the principles 
which underlie its existence. 

Col. Kent. I will call upon Sir Knight Jared I. Williams 
to i-espond to that sentiment. He was early connected with 
the revival of the Order in this town, and it is as much in- 
debted to him as to any person for its present flourishing 
condition. 

SPEECH OP SIR KNIGHT J. I. WILLIAMS. 

I could wish, sir, that some older member of the Fraternity, 
some one better versed in its history, and whoso eloquence 
would do better justice to it than any words of mine, had 



52 

been designated to respond to this sentiment ; but as I make 
it a rule never to shrink from trying, at least, to do my part, 
I will say a few words. 

In 1797, 1 think, authority was given to Mr. John Weeks 
and associates to establish North Star Lodge. From that 
time down to the Morgan excitement, the Lodge worked on, 
with that varying fortune that marks all human institutions ; 
sometimes meeting with a high degree of pi^osperity, and at 
other times sinking to a very low state. At that time, when 
unprincipled politicians — then, as always, ready to seize upon 
any thing to accomplish their ends — grasped at the alleged ab- 
duction of a worthless citizen to raise an outcry against the 
Order, the lodge languished, and finally the charter was re- 
turned to the Grand Lodge, where it remained until 1852, 
when Dr. Eliphalet Lyman procured its restoration. Since 
then it has prospered to a great degree, and now numbers 
some hundred and fifty members. What we have accom- 
plished for the good of the town, how far our lessons of love 
and kindness taught in the lodge have gone toward uniting 
the people of this town, will only be known when the last 
records are made up, and we all stand before our Master and 
wait his final inspection. This much we know, ^hat the hon- 
ored names of those who have presided over us, and who have 
assisted us in all our undertakings, are those of our most re- 
spected citizens — men of worth, whose names are suflicient 
vouchers that we have been engaged in nothing wrong, but 
that we have always wrought for the best interests of our na- 
tive town. The names of Weeks, and. Savage, and Wilson, 
and Chapman, and others familiar to the older citizens of this 
town, are good sureties for our well meaning, and, I think, for 
our good conduct. To-day we have met together and can-ied 
before you the banner of the knights of old, the emblem of 
our Order. With pleasure we have done it; and we hope it 
has reminded you, as it ever reminds us, that in our course 
of life the cross of our blessed Saviour should be our only 
guide. 

I would here remind my brother masons that this is the 
first time that we have been called out on an occasion of fes- 
tivity. Our meetings have been generally those of sorrow 



53 

and mourning. Soon after the restoration of our Lodge we 
were called to lay the remains of Dr. Lyman in the silent 
tomb, and pay to them the last sad honors which were denied 
by his kindred. We recorded his virtues upon our records, 
and threw over his frailties the mantle of Masonic charity. 
Since then we have been called upon to bury many of our 
most influential members. I was struck with the mention, by 
the Marshal, of Col. Cross, Lieut. Lewis and others, who have 
fallen in this civil war, and whom we have laid in the grave. 

Eut, citizens of Lancaster, as we joyously assist you on this 
occasion, so we ask you to assist us with your smiles and your 
encouragement, that our Masonic trowels may be more efficient 
in spreading the cement of love and union j that our Masonic 
swords may be sharper to smite asunder the arrows of temp- 
tation, and that our armor may be proof against them. 

The next regular toast was then read, as follows : 
The Volunteer Army. The world never saw a more magnifi- 
cent army than the volunteer force of the United States. All 
good citizens, they sprang to arms, to sustain the government 
that protected them. When the war shall favorably end, we 
shall welcome the members to their usual avocations; ever 
remembering the services they rendered in times of danger. 

Captain F. M. Erodes, formerly of the 14th N. II. Vols., 
was called upon to respond to this sentiment, but did not come 
forward. 

Seventh regular toast : 

The Federal Navy. Grown to dimensions unequalled in the 
naval records of the world, the modest bravery of its officers 
and sailors is as marked as its recognized supremacy. In the 
dark days presaging open war, not a sailor was false to his al- 
legiance. We recognize in the recent combat of the Kear- 
sarge with the pirate Alabama an earnest of the result that 
must always follow a fair fight. The victorious vessel, built 
in a New-Hampshire port, named for a New-Hampshire moun- 
tain, and partially under the command of a descendant of the 
old Eevolutionary stock of the State (Thornton), will be re- 
membered in history along with the old Constitution. The 



54 

crews of other vessels only require a similar opportunity to do 
equally effective service. 

Col. Kent. I desire to call upon a son of Lancaster to re- 
spond to that toast; a young man whose bravery is only 
equalled by his modesty ; Avho has gone through the several 
gradations in the navy, until he now holds the honorable posi- 
tion of Lieutenant. I refer to Alfred T. Snell, late of the 
ship Lancaster. 

The President. I happen to know something of the man- 
ner in which Lieut. Suell has performed his duties, and it has 
been so creditable that I am sure his name will be written 
among the honored sons of the town. 

Lieut. Snell having left the bower, Col. Kent said : 

I desire to call for a toast from an old and respected citizen, 
whose long and honorable career has been without spot or 
blemish; whose descendants -have sprang up around him, and 
whom we all rejoice to see here to-day. I allude to Col. John 
H. White. Will he flivor us with a sentiment, or some re- 
marks ? 

Col. White said he had no speech to make, but he would 
offer as a sentiment — 

Lancaster as it was one hundred years ago, a howling wil- 
derness, now blossoming like the rose. Never need a son look 
beyond his own town to find anything surpassing the sublime 
beauty of its scenery. 

Eighth regular toast : 

The Churches and the Sabbath Schools. We hail, as an omen 
fraught with pleasing results, the cordial commingling of 
churches and sabbath schools on this occasion. It is eminently 
fitting that we should cast aside, on occasions like this, all dis- 
tinctive badges and societies, and unite as the followers and 
believers of one God, in celebrating the anniversary of a town 
where all have enjoyed freedom of conscience, and grown to 
the stature of manhood under his impartial protection. May 
it mark an era of genuine good feeling among different 
churches and sects; among whom no contention should ever 
exist, except that noble contention, oi', rather, emulation, who 
can best serve our common Benefactor. 



55 

To this toast there was no response, and the next was read 
as follows : 

The early Settlers of our Town. Surrounded by all the com- 
forts of life, we shall do well to reflect upon the sterling vigor 
of those men who " tamed the wilderness," and those women 
who, by their patient endurance and cheering assistance, en- 
couraged them in the pioneers' career. Undergoing the hard- 
ships incident to a new settlement; situated far in the forests ; 
in fact a very outpost of civilization ; their steady effort over- 
came all obstacles, until we to-day are reaping the rich fruit 
of their planting. Their descendants have in all cases done 
honor to the stock from whence they sprung, and they may 
well refer to-day, with pardonable pride, to the labors of their 
ancestors. 

SPEECH OP REV. WM. R. JOYSLIN, OF BERLIN, VT. 

Mr. President, Ladles and Gentlemen : I thank you for the 
invitation to respond to this toast. I am one of those who 
revere age, and it is exceedingly pleasant to me, when I come 
back here, to see so many reverend and revered meii and 
women, who have given character to our town. The earliest 
settlers have passed off the stage. Stockwell, Buckman, 
Spaulding — they have passed off, as individuals, from the 
stage of action, but their descendants remain ; and this town, 
in the families of the Spauldiugs, the Savages, the Stockwells, 
the Weekses, and their descendants, directly and indirectly, 
with their comfortable homes, attests the character of those 
settlers. They were industrious, thrifty, sturcfy men, and 
they gave character and life to this town. Their descendants 
are of the same class, and we know — as we look abroad over 
our community — that they are its bone and sinew. Our 
fathers endured stern hardships and jDrivations. Mr. Edwai-d 
Spaulding, who settled upon the hill, was brought here in the 
arms of his mother — the first infant brought to this town. 
Many came from Massachusetts, as we have heard. They 
came into the wilderness and laid the foundations upon which 
our prosperity has been built up. Among other things — and 
it may become me to speak of it, my friends — they brought 



56 

with them and established the Gospel and its institutions. 
The early settlers reared the old meeting-house, and there the 
families gathered in those pews — every pew representing a 
famil}^; and thus the people of this town were brought 
together in a bond of religious and spiritual union — a union 
that will outlast all other unions. Our stability, my friends, 
is in following the example that Jias been exhibited by the 
lives and the actions of the early settlers; holding fast to the 
truth, building upon the foundations that they laid, and stand- 
ing by the principles that have been committed to us by a 
christian and pious ancestry. I believe that in this rests our 
strength, and that by this we shall conquer. 

May we, my friends, be as faithful in our day and genera- 
tion — those who are coming upon the stage and those who 
are now in middle life — as the early settlers of this town; 
and may the prosperity of this town henceforth be an honor 
to us, as it has been an honor to them. May we all stand in 
the principles that were left tons, and be a united and a happy 
people. 

Col. Kent. In this connection, I will read a communica- 
tion that has been received from Judge WooDRurr, of Ohio, 
whose wife, as you all know, is the daughter of Hon. John H. 
White, of this town. 

Mr. Preside7it : Having some years since become allied to 
the ancient and honorable family of the Whites, who have 
long lived within view of the White Mountains of New-Hamp- 
shire, and a branch of which I took the liberty of transplant- 
ing into the genial soil of Ohio, may I be allowed the privilege 
of addressing a few words to this intelligent assembly upon 
so interesting an occasion. 

A hundred years, to our finite minds, occupies an immense 
space of time, and yet how short compared with the thousands 
that have passed, or with the countless ages 3-et to come. In 
this short space of a centurj', howevei', the close of which you 
have met to commemorate, Avhat momentous events have 
transpired. Nations have risen and fallen ; the fixce of the 
moral, and indeed of the religious and political world, has 
assumed many varied aspects; the march of mind has been 



57 

more rapid in that period than in any other ten centuries. 
Need I nieution the wonderful application of steam to all the 
departments of commerce, agriculture and manufactures, and 
to the art of printing, and the art of war; or the mysterious 
operations of the magnetic telegraph, and the thousand other 
inventions and improvements which have with magic speed 
darted into being ? 

Look at this beautiful valley in which you are now assem- 
bled. Many of you yet living have seen the Indian canoe 
gliding silently and rapidly upon the smooth surface of this 
beautiful stream (the Connecticut). Some sought homes 
among these granite hills almost at the beginning of the cen- 
turj^ you celebrate, bringing with you your wives and children 
to a then cold and cheerless home. Now, how changed the 
scene ! Smiling landscapes, enlivened on all sides by neat and 
thrifty villages, manufacturing towns and well-worked farms, 
all brought into such close proximity with the milder climates 
of the country, that what nature has denied to you in the way 
of tropical luxuries, is now brought within your daily reach, 
leaving you still in the enjoyment of the bracing air and fer- 
tile soil of your mountains and valleys. 

What a happy people we ought to be — surrounded in all 
parts of our country with such unnumbered blessings as the 
God of Providence has provided for us ! Yet how undeserv- 
ing ! Instead of a united and a prosperous country, we have, 
through the infernal spirits which infest the land, become dis- 
tracted, and our soil deluged in blood. But, thanks to God, 
there is a spirit yet prevalent among the people, which, by 
his aid, will send these hellish influences down, down, to the 
infernal pit from whence they came, and the American eagle 
will yet soar triumphantly through the skies, bidding defiance 
to these powei-s of darkness that would pull down the fair 
fabric of Liberty, reared by our immortal ancestors. 

Col. Kent continued : Several other toasts have been 
handed in by various parties during the day, to which no per- 
son has been assigned to respond. I will read them now : 

By Nathaniel Wilson, Esq., the first Preceptor of the Acad- 
emy, of Orono, Me. : 

Lancaster. In the grandeur and beauty of her natural 



58 

scenery, unrivfiled — but, in her social relations more notable — 
more truly beautiful. As her generations in the past century 
■were distinguished in all the elements that constitute an intel- 
ligent and virtuous community, may the present and the 
future rival the past. 

By Rev. John Lovejo}', the chaplain designated for the occa- 
sion, who, much to our regret, is unable to be with us to-day : 

Lancaster. Beautiful for situation — the joy of all resident 
and absent citizens. Surrounded by the "■ Mountains of God," 
may her love for liberty, education, religion, and religious 
institutions be as permanent as the White Mountains. 

The United States. The most glorious, the happiest, " the 
most magnificent dwelling for men on earth." Its disunion is 
sought by worthless men. Let the language of every loyal 
heai't be, " The Union must and shall be preserved." May 
the eternal God be its refuge, and underneath, the everlasting 
arms. 

The Ladies. No celebration is complete without the pres- 
ence of the ladies. At this time we welcome them with pecu- 
liar pleasure. We attribute the present position of the town, 
in wealth, culture, and influence, to the force of their example 
and the effect of their labors. While we cherish with the 
warmest affection the name of the town of our youth, we can 
never forget the dear ones that have made and still render it 
doubly dear. 

The Committees of the Occasion. Better labor was never 
more cheerfully rendered than that by our men, matrons, and 
maids, in prej)aring this enthusiastic welcome to the old home. 
May the efforts they have shown in our behalf bear abundant 
fruit in the harvest of pleasant recollections that will spring 
from the seed here planted. 

The Citizens generally. From the farm, the office, the shop, 
and the countei-, the people have come up to enjoy this day's 
festivity. As we glance over the luxuriant fields and among 
the evidences of prosperity that surround us, we may well 



59 

Lave reason for a day's festive congratulation on the peaceful 
progress that has passed over the happy valley. During long 
years to come, may we, the people of this good old town, 
dwell in harmony, peace, and plenty — striving for the common 
good, and diffusing influences that shall endure long after they 
have lain down to sleep beneath the shade of the hills that 
smiled over their cradle. 

The Sons and Daughters of Lancaster. May those of them 
who have left their homes, honor their native town by their 
deeds as much as she has honored them in their birth. 

I hold in my hand a letter from a gentleman, not a citizen 
of Lancaster, but a native of the county, who has honored it 
on many a battle-field. I allude to Maj. Gen. John G. Foster, 
a native of Whitefield : 

Baltimore, Md., April 3, 1864. 
CoL. Henry O. Kent, Marshal-in- Chief : 

Dear Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your note of the 28th ult., and beg you to accept my thanks 
for your kindness. 

It would afford me great pleasure to be present at the cen- 
tennial celebration at Lancaster, IST. H., on the 14th of July 
next, as I am a native of \Yhitefield, Coos county. But I ]|ery 
much fear that I shall be too much occupied at that time to 
be absent from my duties. 

I have been off duty for several weeks from the effects of 
an injury to my wounded leg, received in East Tennessee, and 
would hardly like to ask for leave of absence in July, which 
will probably be the busiest period of the coming campaign, 
in which I hope to take an active part. Again accept my 
thanks, and believe me, very truly yours, 

J. G. FOSTER, Maj. Gen. Yols. 

The following note has been received from Ilis Excellency, 
Gov. Gilmore : 

State of New-Hampshire, \ 
Executive Department, j 

Concord, July 0, 1SG4. 
My dear Col. : I am in receipt of your ftivor of the 8th 



60 

instant. I am sorry to inform you that our Legislature will 
sit all of next week, and it Avill be impossible for me to be at 
Lancaster on the 14th, which I most truly and sincerely regret. 
I am, my dear Sir, your friend,' very truly, 

J. A. GILMOEE. 
Col. Henry O. Kent, Lancaster, N. H. 

Col. Kent also read extracts from several other letters, from 
gentlemen in various sections of the country, which will be 
found in fall in the Appendix. 

The President. My friends, we have had some disappoint- 
ments to-day, but I am sure we have had also considerable 
happiness. It is hardly pi'oper for us to pass by, with a single 
sentiment, the labors of the several committees here to-day. 
They have been so well performed, and in all respects are so 
creditable, that I think the children of Lancaster who reside 
out of the town and the State ought to give them some special 
commendation. I therefore propose that the thanks of the 
sons and daughters of Lancaster be given to the various com- 
mittees of arrangements, for the highly satisfactory manner in 
which they have discharged their duties. Those in favor of 
that proposition will say "Aye." [''Aye" — "Aye."] Con- 
trary minded, "No," [No response.] Every body is satisfied 
with those committees. (Applause.) 

And now, my friends, it remains for us simply to congratu- 
late ourselves that we have had such a beautiful day. Provi- 
dence has smiled upon this occasion in a pecuhar manner. 
There is much felicity in what has been siiid and done. It has 
been clearly demonstrated to-day that the love and friendship 
of the people of Lancaster are stronger than their politics and 
party spirit. Not one word has been uttei'ed reflecting upon 
any man or set of men under heaven. It a precious blessing, 
and a cause of rejoicing, that there are still some occasions in 
life when we can meet in friendship and harmony. I trust 
that w'hen we separate we may go with the right temper and 
right feeling, and with a fixed determination that we will 
hereafter do nothing which will reflect dishonor upon our 
native town ; that we shall go forth self-reliant, and with the 
firm purpose to accomplish whatever we undertake, as becomes 



61 

the sons of Lancaster. I trust, too, that we shall be true to 
ourselves and the virtues of our fathers, and as often as we 
remember them, renew the resolution that their posterity shall 
never be unworthy of them. 

Col. Kent. My friends, this closes the exercises of the day. 
A levee will be held at the town hall, this evening, which we 
hope will be made one of the pleasant incidents of this occa- 
sion by the presence of our friends from all pai-ts of the 
country, and the interchange of cordial greetings and senti- 
ments of friendship. We hope to see you all to-night, and 
that you will extend this notice as much as j)ossible, that there 
may be a large attendance. 

This meeting stands adjourned until the 14th day of July, 
1964. (Laughter and applause.) 

The President. Col. Kent will conduct the exercises on 
that occasion. (Eenewed laughter.) 



62 



LEVEE AT THE TOWN HALL. 

The festivities of this interesting occasion were fitly termin- 
ated by a levee in the evening, at the town hall — the an- 
cient meeting-house, the first erected in the town, and itself, 
therefore, a link between the present and the past — which was 
crowded to overflowing by the residents of the town, and their 
friends from abroad. The hall was handsomely decorated 
with flags and wreaths of evergreen, while a magnificent 
boquet, gigantesque in size, but arranged with exquisite taste, 
hung over the platform, like the breath of Imogen, perfuming 
the room. The gathering was an informal one, and the prin- 
cipal portion of the time was sj)ent in the exchange of friendly 
greetings and conversation, in which the reminiscences of the 
past held a conspicuous place. Old friends, long parted by 
time, and widely separated by distance, here mef, to renew 
once more the intercourse of early years, and revive the pleas- 
ant memories of the past. 

The following songs, written for the occasion by Henry O. 
Kent, Esq., and Mrs. Mary B. C. Slade, were sung, in a spirited 
and effective manner, by the Glee Club : 

1 In the grateful shade of our mountain home 

A glad throng gathers to-day ; 
To welcome with joy to the old hearth-stone 
Companions so long away. 

2 And list, 'mid our welcome resounding clear, 

A plaintive strain from afar, 
That sweetly falls on our gathering here 
Through the list'ning summer air. 

3 The greeting of friends to the olden home, 

Now rested from mortal strife ; 
"Whose spirits attend ye, as back ye come 
To haunts of their earthly life. 

4 Warm is the greeting and strong the embrace 

That welcome ye home again ; 
Which bid ye forget the wearying race 
That led from this peaceful plain. 



63 



5 Eing the glad chorus full joj-ously out, 

While the old, old tales are told ; 
Let silvery laugh and echoing shout 
Prove hearts that have not grown cold. 

6 Aye, the sturdy old town is glad to-day, 

As she welcomes home her own, 
And her jocund smile is as blithe and gay 
As that of her j'oungest born. 

7 Ye have done her honor where'er ye strove, 

Her dead have been leal and true ; 
The pride of her sons and her daughters' love 
Been pure as our mountains' snow. 

8 Let us strengthen hero this union of ours, 

Near the graves of loved ones gone; 
Kenevv at this altar our youthful vows. 
And cheerfully journey on. 



WELCOME HOME. 



1 Mountain winds and singing waters 

Sound our old home's gladsome strain ; 
Climb the hills, my Sons and Daughters ! 

Welcome, welcome home again ! 
Climb the hills, my Sons and Daughters ! 

Welcome, welcome home again ! 
Climb the hills, my Sons and Daughters ! 

Welcome, welcome home again ! 

2 Haste from prairie, lake and ocean ; 

From the crowded cities come. 
And afar from war's commotion. 
Soldiers, brothers, welcome home ! 

3 Come, unseen ones, at our calling, 

Who, our glory and our loss. 
Nobly fought, as nobly felling. 

With the brave and gallant Ckoss ! 

4 Lovely spot, sweet home of beauty. 

On her birth-day bright and clear, 
At the call of love and duty. 
All shall find a welcome here. 



64 

5 Crown witli love each joyous hour, 
Write each name so dear to her 
On the hundred petaled flower, 
Sweet wild rose of Lancaster ! 

Ill the course of tlie evening, Albert Holton, Esq., of Ban- 
gor, proposed that the natives of Lancaster, now resident 
abroad, should purchase the field where the dinner had been 
given, iind present it to the town for a public common, as a 
memorial of their affection for the place of their birth. The 
proposition was heartily seconded by Nathaniel Wilson, Esq., 
of Orono, Me., and J. B, Beoavn, Esq., of Portland, A sub- 
scription paper was drawn up, and considerable progress made 
in obtaining the requisite amount. A resolution was also 
passed authorizing Col. Kent to procure all available statistics 
in regard to the history of the town, to be printed with the 
account of the celebration. 

At 10 J o'clock the company separated, (the band playing 
'' Home, Sweet Home") to seek their several homes, their souls 
strengthened, and their hearts inspired, we trust, by the events 
of the day, and a store of fragrant memories treasured up for 
the years that are to come. 

As a matter for future reference in this connection, we insert 
the names of those officials who were present, and acted on 
the occasion. 

President — David H. Mason, Boston, Mass. 

Vice Presidents — Nathaniel White, Concord; John B. 
Brown, Portland, Me.; L. C. Porter, St. Johnsbury, Yt. ; Ed- 
ward D. Holton, Milwaukee, Wis.; Nathaniel Wilson, Orono, 
Me. ; Spencer Clark, Lunenburg, Yt. ; John W. Lovejoy, Hat- 
field, Mass. ; Pteuben G. Freeman, Guildhall, Yt. ; Charles Baker, 
Royal Joyslin, J. E. Stickney, Horace Whitcomb, Allen Smith, 
Wm. Lovejoy, Seth Savage, Wm. Holkins, Wm. Burns, Doug- 
lass Spaulding, Emmons Stockwell, Warren Porter, Amos Le- 
gro, Porter G. Freeman, Joseph Howe, John H. White, Benj. 
Hunking, Turner Stephenson, J. W. Williams, James W. 
Weeks, Ephraim Cross, Charles D. Stebbins, Richard P. Kent, 
Samuel Mclntire, Gilman Wilder, Ephraim Stockwell, Beniah 
Colby, Daniel Stebbins, Wm. Moore, Lancaster. 



65 

Committee of Arrangements — J. W. Barney, "Wm. E. 
Stockwell, J. I. Williams, Samuel H. Legro, Edward Savage, 
H. J. Whiteomb, E. E. Kent. 

Marshal-in-Chiep — Henry O. Kent. 

Aids to the Marshal — Levi B. Joyslin, Edward E. Kent, 
Ira S. M. Gove, Frank Smith, Loren B. Porter, Chapin C. 
Brooks, "Wm. C. Spaulding, Oscar F. Bothel, H. G. Hodgdon, 
n. F. Whitcomb, Sylvanus Chesman, Wm. Warren, James S. 
Brackett, E. D. Stock well, G. H. Emerson, Philastus Eastman, 
Fred. H. Colby. 

Special Marshal for Sabbath Schools — Harvey Adams. 

Assistants — Joseph C. Marshall, Seneca Congdon, Geo. M. 
Smith, Albert T. Johnson, C. M. Winchester. 

In the absence of the Orator selected — Wm. H. Farrar, of 
Oregon — addresses were delivered by David H. Mason, of Bos- 
ton, Mass, and Edward D. Holton, of Milwaukee, Wis. 

Chaplain — Kev. David Perry, of Brookfield, Yt. 

Toast-Masters — The President and Marshal-in-Chief. 

Eeader of the Charter — Ossian Eay. 

Committee on Dinner — Frederick Fisk, E. E. Kent, A. H. 
Aspinwall, G. H. Watson, W. F. Smith, C. E. Allen, G. 0. 
Eogers, H. J. Whitcomb, L. B. Porter, E. Spaulding, J. B. 
Moore, W. D. Weeks, J. Moore, E. L. Hodgdon, W. J. Harri- 
man, Chas. W. Hodgdon, Francis H. Wentworth, Alonzo P. 
Freeman, Dudley IN". Hodgdon, 2d, Barton G. Towne, James 
Legro, Hiram Savage, John W. Spaulding, J. W. Savage, O. F. 
Bothel, Warren Marden, E. G. Kimball, Joseph Colby, Zeb. 
Twitchell J. S. Brackett, Geo. W. Webster, S. H. Legro, C. D. 
Allen, Chas. Mclntire, JSTelson Kent, William Darby, C. B. 
Allen, Wm. L. Kowell, B. F. Hunking, L. F. Moore, W. H. 
Clarke, J. C. Marshall, George Cotton, Nelson Sparks, John E. 
Field, and their wives ; Horace Spaulding, Henry Webb, and 
their sisters; Geo. S. Stockwell, Phineas E. Hodgdon, Miss Ee- 
becca Colby and Miss Abigail Colby. 
5 



APPENDIX. 



Executive Department, \ 
Boston, June 27th, 1864. ) 
Henry 0. Kent, Esq., Marshal-in-Chief, &c., &c. 

My dear Sir : I am very glad to believe that nothing will 
interfere to prevent me from accepting, now, your very kind 
and cordial invitation to attend at the Centennial Celebration 
at Lancaster, on the 14th. A sight of the beautiful region of 
Northern New-Hampshire will be far more refreshing to me 
in this summer heat than any thing I can do or say there can 
be to your good people, and I anticipate great pleasure from 
ray visit. 

I am, very truly, your friend and servant, 

John A. Andrew. 



Lebanon, July 11, 1864. 

Friend Kent: 1 have cherished the hope that I should be 
able to attend your Centennial Celebration this week, in com- 
pliance with your kind invitation; but I am compelled to 
abandon the idea, and to say I can not come. 

The celebration is to be a " home affair," and, strictly speak- 
ing, I have no business there. The sons and daughters of 
good old Lancaster are invited home, to exchange friendly 
greetings, to look once more upon the beautiful river and those 
grand old mountains, to revive the memories of their common 
birth-place, and review their family records. 

Such a meeting can not fail to be both joyous and sad. It 
will bring to mind the days of childhood, and many -pleasing 



67 

associations that cling around tbe dear familiar places. Mem- 
ory will unfold many forgotten scenes, and the forms of dear 
ones gone will be mentally photographed, even upon their 
tomb-stones. 

The influences of such a meeting are pure and holy. They 
appeal to the tenderest emotions and sympathies of human 
nature, and subdue unworthy passions. They suggest the 
idea of mutability, and forcibly admonish us that this is not 
our "abiding place." They teach the doctrine of brotherly 
love — of honor and fidelity. They smooth the rugged way 
of life — lighten its burdens, and elevate the soul in all its 
moral and social attributes. 

The century which Lancaster has lived has been one of the 
most remarkable centuries. Our loved Eepublic had its be- 
ginning soon after it was ushered in. It includes the history 
of this young and vigorous nation — its noble youth, its demo- 
cratic sentiments, its rapid growth in population, in material 
wealth, in learning, in art, in religion — indeed, in all the ele- 
ments of true national greatness. The century closes in the 
midst of a great struggle for national existence. The Repub- 
lic is in danger ! Twenty millions of free people are auda- 
ciously challenged by traitors to yield up their liberty, their 
government, and their property. It loill not he done. The na- 
tion will live — and treason will die ! Let us have undoubting 
faith that the same hand of Providence which led our fathers 
through the Revolution, will lead us safely through this strug- 
gle, and that our nation will rise from this terrible ordeal to 
purer and more exalted life ; and that, many centuries hence, 
our descendants, while honoring the patriotic dead, may cele- 
brate the glories of a united, regenerated, free and prosperous 
country. 

Truly yours, 

A. H. Cragin. 



68 

Cincinnati, O., April 21, 1864. 
Edward Savage, Esq. Sir : I have just received the invita- 
tion of your Committee of Arrangements. * * * 
Should I not be so favored as to be present, permit me to ex- 
press the hope that " all things will be done " so " decently 
and in " such " order," that every member of the vast congre- 
gation assembled may realize his highest expectations, while 
no one will do or see done any act, " which, dying, he could 
wish to blot." 

Please to accept, sir, for yourself and all the other members 
of your committee, the assurance of the high consideration of 
yours. 

Very respectfully, 

A. Curtis. 



Cincinnati, May 1, 1864. 
Edward Savage, Esq., Secretary, &c. Sir : Your circular of 
invitation to attend the Centennial Anniversary of the settle- 
ment of Lancaster, is received. The call for 30,000 one hun- 
dred days men for garrison duty, the impending draft for 
18,000 men for the field, and my own small affairs, "will not 
permit me to be with you on that occasion, but they do per- 
mit me to send you my estimate of good old Coos, her work, 
her spirit, and her children. 

Such a spirit makes the land of Adams and Webster the 
cynosure of the Eepublic. The dawn of such light should be 
celebrated ; the heralds of those ideas deserve lasting remem- 
brance ; lives pervaded by such conceptions are worthy of 
eulogy. This spirit is the normal mental atmosphere of New- 
England. It is genial to symmetrical culture. It fosters the 
harmonious growth of the soul. It grows human beings as 
our beautiful valley does the pine. 

The true child of Coos has no superstition, no license, no 
lash, no fatality, no antiquity, but is a rational force, armed 
with multitudinous facts, exhaustive conceptions and compre- 



69 

hensive principles j guided by personal neatness, attractive 
manners, elocutionary correctness, grammatical accuracy, 
rhetorical purity, logical consistency and philosophical insight, 
and ruled by temperate aj)petites, innocent pleasures, warm 
affections, varied utilities, solid virtues, charming tastes, and 
exalted piety. 

Eespectfully, 

E. H. Stockwell. 



Fennimore, Grant Co., Wis., June 19, 1864. 
./. W. Berry, J. I. Williams, and others, Committee of Arrange- 
ments. 
Gentlemen : Your very kind invitation to be present at 
the Centennial Celebration of the settlement of Lancaster, 
was received in due time. It is now nearly twenty years 
since I left Lancaster, the place of my nativity; but the pleas- 
ing recollection of my boyhood days — my old playmates, who 
used to roam with me over the beautiful hills and mountains 
of our native land, breathing the pure and bracing air which 
surrounded them — my class-mates in school, who used to vie 
with each other in the pursuit of "knowledge under diflficul- 
ties" — the spelling-school, which broke the monotony of day 
school life by the trial of " who should spell down" — the so- 
cial evening party, the domestic fireside, the many relatives 
and friends who did then, and do still there reside, — these. 
and. many other pleasing reminiscences, will never be forgot- 
ten. They are stamped indelibly upon the page of memory. 

But where are the old pioneers of this, our native land ; the 
founders of this town, whom we all so much admire and love ? 
They are all gone. Peace to their ashes ! May their industry 
and their many virtues be imitated by those who are now 
carrying on the work of improvement they so nobly begun, 
and which I trust will bo continued in the future, until the 
native and adopted sons and daughters of Lancaster shall be 
able to say, ''We have the prettiest village, the best cultivated 
farms, the most virtuous, intelligent and industrioiis inhabit- 



70 

ants of any town wbicli nestles among the Granite Hills of 
New-Hampshire, or even in New-England." 

Trusting that your Celebration may prove an entire success, 
I will conclude with this sentiment : 

The native and adopted Sons and Daughters of Lancaster, 
representatives of nearly every State and Territory in the Union : 
May their influence be felt throughout the length and breadth 
of the land, in aiding the Government to crush out this ac- 
cursed and wicked rebellion, and establish the Eepublic upon 
a permanent foundation ; a foundation, the corner-stone of 
which shall be freedom to all within her borders. 

Wm. W. Field. 



Chicago, June 22, 1864. 
Edward Savage, Esq., Lancaster, N'. H., Secretary of Committee 
on Centennial Celebration. 

Sir : My attention has been called to the celebration in my 
native town, of its One Hundredth Anniversary, on the 14th 
July proximo, and nothing would give me more pleasure than 
to be present; on that occasion. 

I was born in Lancaster, Nov. 11, A. D. 1825; my family 
moved into Vermont, however, when I was four years of age, 
since which time I have not known much of the land of my 
nativity; but I have always felt proud of originating in a 
land where sometimes it is bleak and dreary, but the hearts 
of its people are always warm, and noted, the world over, for 
genuine hospitality — and I have yet to learn of the first man 
who has not always felt a pride in being a son of New-Hamp- 
shire. It will always be a pleasure to me to hear from any of 
you, and to strike hands with old Coos. 

Fraternally yours, John E. Haynes. 



Chicago, HI., July 7, 1864. 
Messrs. John W. Barney, J. L Williams, Wm. B. Stockwell, and 
others, Committee, &c. 
Gentlemen : Until within a very brief time I have confi- 
dently calculated on being with you, and joining in the exer- 



71 

cises of your Centennial Celebration, to which I acknowledge 
your kindly bidding, and for which I thank you ; but Time, 
"the thief," has got ahead of me, and my business engage- 
ments will not permit me that satisfaction. 

Not being able to attend, I join with a very considerable 
number of natives of " old Cohos," and not a few of the town 
and village of Lancaster, who have located here beside the 
bright waters of Lake Michigan, in sending you greeting, and 
wishing for you all auspicious circumstances that ever wait 
on such celebrations, 

" and pleasure, 



Without stint or measure." 

W,e beg to assure you that we do not, never can, and never 
icill, forget the grand old mountains, the bright valleys, pure 
streams, and fair lakes of our native State, though far away; 
nor the clinging recollections of childhood, youth, and early 
manhood ; nor, dearer than all, the old folks and young folks, 
left in our " good old homes." Few will ever return, but to 
most of us there is no brighter spot on earth than the Con- 
necticut valley through Coos, and no lovelier village than 
Lancaster, nestled down beside its two rivers and among the 
mountains. 

Again wishing you a good time generally, I send you as my 
"personal rejjresentative" the following : 

For more than a himdred hundred years, 
May Lancaster echo the hearty cheers 

Of freemen, true to a freeman's vow, 
That our country shall number a hundred States, 
From the " Land of Fin" to Behring's straits, 

And never a single one less than now. 
That our flag shall wave while the world revolves, 
Upheld hy strong arms and firm resolves — 

That living or dead we'll be 
True to the trust by our fathers given. 
True to our Flag, though battle riven, 

True to our God — and free ! 

Yours, very truly, 

J, W. Merriam. 



72 
y 

Boston, July 10, 1864. 

Edward Savage, Esq. Dear Sir : It would give me great 
pleasure to be present at the Centennial Celebration of the 
first settlement of my native town, to be held on the 14th 
instant, but circumstances over which I have no control' pre- 
vent me. * * * The venerable faces of the 
pioneer settlers are now fresh in my recollection. The Pages, 
Stockwells, Bucknams, Brackets, Weekses, Spauldings, Love- 
joys, Eastmans, Willards, Savages, Adamses, Stephensons, 
Moores, Lyons, "Willsona, Whites, Everetts, Farrars, and 
others to whom I was accustomed to bow with reverance, 
where are they ? and where, in a few years, will be their de- 
scendants now living, and those who shall assemble to com- 
memorate the Centennial of 1964 ? Echo answers, where ? 

I trust the day of celebration may be propitious, and that 
every thing may pass off pleasantly. I shall be with you in 
mind, though not in person. 

If you please, you may present at the festival the following 
sentiment : 

The rising generation of Lancaster. IMay they emulate their 
ancestors in prudence and industry, and, in virtue and knowl- 
edge, excel them all. 

"My own, my native land, 
I love tliee still." 

Very respectfully, 

, Edavard B. Moore, M. D. 



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BINDERY INC. 

#AUG 89 
N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 



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